Greyducks Show Improvement at the Armory

The Greyducks, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity indoor track and field team, exited the holiday break with two more meets under their belt. They have now competed in four meets, which have facilitated the transition between cross country and indoor track while also providing experience for both new and returning athletes, since the start of the season in early December. Many outdoor athletes from last year are joining the indoor track scene, returning to their regular routines as the season progresses.

The girls returned to the Armory track for the third time this season on Friday, December 14 to compete in the Tim St. Lawrence Invitational. Junior Angélique Charles-Davis continued her run of top finishes, placing fourth in the varsity 55-meter dash with a new personal record (7.60). Her performance was even more impressive considering the meet was an invitational, as invitationals tend to have higher levels of competition. “[I’m] just trying to keep the momentum going and keep running well,” said Charles-Davis, when asked about her goals for the rest of the season.

The Greyducks did just that on Saturday, December 22 at the Day of Distance meet, with three athletes placing within the top five in their events and a podium finish for the relay team. The freshman 4x800-meter relay team did exceptionally well, taking home second place (12:41.91). Senior Jeanette Cheung finished in third place in the varsity 1500-meter race walk (9:00.21), reinforcing Stuyvesant’s continued dominance in the racewalk event. Despite the bronze medal, there was still more to be desired. “I did place third in the racewalk, but my time was almost a minute off my personal record, so I was not satisfied,” Cheung said. Nevertheless, Cheung knows she has what it takes to bounce back. Looking toward the rest of the season, Cheung simply said, “I want to beat my current personal record.”

Sophomore Agatha Edwards placed fourth in the longest event of the afternoon, the varsity 3000-meter run (12:21.79), and fellow sophomore Jessica Kwok placed 10th in the varsity 1000-meter run (3:23.75). Underclassmen like Edwards and Kwok are beginning to realize their potential. The stand-out performance, however, came from junior Ester Suleymanov. Suleymanov placed fifth in the varsity 1500-meter run (5:25.60), beating her previous personal record by an entire 20 seconds. “I was very happy about my 23-second personal record in the 1500-meter run, but it wasn’t unexpected because of all the hard work I have been putting into my practices,” Suleymanov said. Suleymanov was four seconds off the time required to qualify for City Championships, which is her “main goal at the moment,” she said. Despite missing the cutoff, Cheung was optimistic, saying the team is “sure we’ll be seeing her qualify” in a future meet.

Even with so much improvement, the majority of the Greyducks have yet to reach full strength. “Because these are holiday meets, less of our team is available to race. The meets feel smaller,” junior Jing Su said. The size of the team does not directly affect those who attend, but as more athletes attend, they will get more experience, which is especially important for newbies. While reflecting on the Day of Distance meet, junior Sherry Chen said, “It was one of the earlier meets of the season and the first track and field meet since outdoor track for many of us, so we were just getting used to the race environment again.” The Greyducks have managed to qualify two athletes for City Championships later on in the spring (Cheung for the varsity 1500-meter race walk and Charles-Davis for the 55-meter dash), but the next few meets will be both focused on development and pushing their top athletes to qualify for cities.