Greyducks Set Sights on City Championship

Coming out of two successful opening meets, the Greyducks, Stuyvesant’s boys’ indoor track team, hope to repeat last winter’s victory at the Borough Championships and finally earn accolades at the PSAL City Championship.

Considered one of Stuyvesant’s most successful teams, the Greyducks have dominated the Manhattan Borough Championships for consecutive years. At last year’s Borough Championships, senior Harper Andrews finished first in the 300-meter dash and second in the high jump, Richard Peng (‘19) finished first in the 55-meter high hurdles, and Andrew Wargo (‘19) was victorious in the pole vault. Last season, the team impressively had seven members, including Andrews, Peng, and Wargo, qualify for the City Championship.

However, the team’s successes have not come without hiccups. Senior and co-captain James Chun attributes these instabilities to the unstable coaching position. “In my time on the team, we've had four different coaches, some for longer periods than others,” he said. The current coach is Biology teacher Stephen McClellan, who has the team’s respect for taking up such a difficult task, but also lacks experience coaching track and field.

This constant change in the managerial position has forced “the rest of us athletes to face the task of managing the team ourselves,” Chun said. Managing the team included making workouts, scheduling meetings, and overseeing the tryouts. Essentially, the captains have been forced to devote their time to coaching younger players at the expense of their own training. This is especially difficult considering the team’s rigorous daily practice regiment.

Yet the team has acquired talented underclassmen, a process that overshadowed the coaching instability. Notably, the return of sophomore and distance-runner Atticus Bacon, who earned a bronze medal at the 2019 Borough Championships in the 3200-meter race, has helped rejuvenate the distance team. On the sprinters’ side, the introduction of freshman and sprinter Ayron Thomas, who qualified for the Junior Olympics with record-breaking sprint times for an underclassman (averaging a 36-second 300-meter dash) last year, poses an opportunity for the Greyducks to dominate sprint events in the city in the near future.

Other notable mentions include junior Kevin Lu-Chua, who has “really stepped up and decided to take on nearly every field event we have: hurdles, pole vaulting, and jumping. His dexterity and knowledge is crucial for our team’s performance as well as teaching the newbies these fields,” Chun said.

These younger members have guided the team to success in the opening two meets of the season. At the PSAL Night of Sprints on December 13, 2019, the team’s first meet, Thomas placed first in the 300-meter dash. It also proved to be an effective tune-up race for many returning members, including junior Dean Carey, who finished ninth in the varsity 55-meter dash. At the PSAL Day of Relays, the team’s second meet, the Greyducks held on to claim a tight victory in the 4 x 400-meter relay, which consisted of Carey, junior Connor Ng, Thomas, and sophomore Christophe Sullivan.

Though the team’s immediate goal is to win the Borough Championships, the Greyducks, rejuvenated by young potential, are aiming to pose a significant threat in the City Championships. The team has time to fine-tune and prepare before the critical latter stages of the season, including critical meets such as the Martin Luther King Games, Stanner Games, and Millrose Trials. The sky is the limit for the Greyducks, who hope to continue the legacy of athletes who have earned the Greyducks consistent finishes at the very top.