Greyducks Gear Up for Borough Championships

As the 3000-meter run came to a close, freshman Julianne Yotov had a huge lead and finished comfortably in first, with the runner in second coming in more than 30 seconds later. After turning their heads nervously to look at the times, Stuyvesant’s indoor girls’ varsity track and field team, the Greyducks, celebrated as Yotov qualified for the Borough Championships with her run.

The Greyducks traveled to the Armory Track on Monday, January 15 to compete in the annual Martin Luther King Games. Coming off of an inconsistent performance at the PSAL Holiday Classic, the Greyducks were determined to have a good showing on MLK day. The team performed well all around despite injuries, a promising sign for the upcoming Manhattan Borough Championships.

They performed well in the track portion of the meet, with junior Clara Mohri coming in second (4:59:53) in the 1500-meter run, in which there were 71 other participants. Yotov (11:17:59) grabbed first place in the 3000-meter, with sophomore Elizabeth Reizis in fifth (12:17:62) and freshman Agatha Edwards right behind in sixth (12:20:60). The 3000-meter run had a total of 16 participants. The long jump was also a strong event for the team. Competing against 58 other athletes, senior Daria Shifrina landed in 10th place with a distance of 14 ft, one inch and sophomore Angelique Charles-Davis came in 13th with a distance of 13 ft, 9.5 in.

However, the team would like to improve in events like the 600-meter run, the pole vault, and the team relays. In particular, the team plans to focus on improving its times in the 4x400 relay. At the MLK Games, they finished 27th out of 46 teams (5:0:50). The qualifying time is 4:15:29, which means they need to improve their time drastically if they are going to participate in the “Borough’s.”

Coach Carl DiSarno puts part of the blame on lingering injuries for their lackluster relay runs. “We have a number of juniors who are injured, mostly due to normal wear and tear, or in one case, an injury sustained during competition. These injuries have really limited our relay possibilities. All three girls are versatile runners that could improve a number of our relays,” he said. In addition to the injuries, youth is a factor that can be attributed to the inconsistency the team has experienced all season. 36 of the 46 members on the team are underclassmen, meaning for some of them, it may very well be their first time running track on a team.

Ultimately, the goal for the Greyducks is to have as many athletes qualify for the city competition on February 4. “Currently, we have six athletes [who] have qualified for the City Championships, and I’d like to see a few more qualify,” DiSarno said.

“The team needs to keep on persevering through hard workouts and staying committed to our rigorous training,” said sophomore Ester Suleymanov when asked about how the team can improve before the Borough Championships.