Greyducks Run Their Way to Borough’s

The girls' varsity cross country team are looking to build upon their early season form as they look forward to their last few meets of the season. The team displayed their competitive edge when they took their talents to the prestigious Manhattan Invitational at the beginning of their season. “It went well; two of our girls ran personal bests,” senior and co-captain Jeanette Cheung said. “It was kind of like a turning point between when we were just getting back into racing and actually racing.” They will be looking to repeat this success at the Section 1 Invitational, as it will all eventually lead up to the upcoming Borough Championships, where the Greyducks are the defending champions.

The work the team put in the offseason through the team’s performances so far showed. “Manhattan Invitational was a meet where we saw our runners compete at a more competitive level, as we were still easing into the season for the previous meets,” Cheung said. Sophomore Julianne Yotov and junior Ester Suleymanov are among the many who were able to set personal records at the meet.

“Manhattan Invitational is a really prestigious meet, so it really pushed our varsity team to stay on their toes,” Cheung said. As with any great athletes, a small taste of success will only result in a taste for more. The girls’ cross country team will look forward to replicating their success at their future meets in order to bring back trophies to Stuyvesant.

But before the team heads to Borough’s, they have to take care of business at the Section 1 Invitational first. The Greyducks have freshmen set to compete at the varsity level. These freshmen are looking forward to proving themselves at a larger competition, and Section 1 is the perfect opportunity to do so. But this is also an exciting opportunity for the experienced runners and captains to observe and prepare the young runners to carry the torch after they ultimately hang up their PSAL sneakers.

With the Borough Championships right around the corner, this is the last chance for the team to tune up and prepare for showtime on a competitive stage. “The competition at Section 1 might very well lead to some more personal records for our varsity members,” Cheung said. So with both team and individual opportunities to set the winning tone before the business end of the season starts coming around, expect a big performance at the Section 1 Invitational. Keep an eye out for the young and hungry freshmen looking to prove themselves and veteran upperclassmen who look to exceed the team’s expectations.