Penguins Under Pressure, Continue to Outswim Opponents

With the scoreboard already in Stuyvesant’s favor, junior Laura Saliy stepped up to her lane. She sprung off the starting block, jumping ahead of her competitors from her dive. By the time she finished her last lap, multiple swimmers from Hunter High School were two laps behind. Her win in the 500-yard freestyle was one of many from Stuyvesant’s girls’ swimming team, the Penguins, who have extended a streak of decisive victories with its 57-43 win over Hunter High School on October 4.

The Penguins have held a tight grip on the Bronx/Manhattan League for years. The last three seasons have seen a combined regular season record of 29-0 from the Penguins, a testament to their dominance in this division. Though their last championship came in the 2014-2015 season, every season since has featured deep playoff runs.

In fact, the Penguins’ frequent entrance into the playoffs has caused a rivalry to develop between them and the Brooklyn Tech Engineers. During the 2014-2015 season, the Penguins were able to triumph over the Engineers and win the city title, but last year, Brooklyn Tech retaliated and defeated Stuyvesant in the championship meet. Many of last year’s swimmers are eager to compete with the Engineers once again. “There are a lot of tough teams out there this year, including Townsend Harris, Bronx Science, Tottenville, Cardozo, and Brooklyn Tech. We especially look forward to possibly racing Brooklyn Tech again [as they] beat us at finals to take the championship title last season,” senior and co-captain Madeline Wong said.

While the Penguins will not face the Engineers this year in the regular season, they have a tense rivalry with another team in their division, the Bronx Science Wolverines. Many on the team were anxious about their meet with the Wolverines on October 6. “Going into the meet [against Bronx Science], we were a little nervous about not winning, but we swam incredibly and won. We out touched them in three events,” Wong said. Narrowly winning multiple events, the Penguins were still able to outscore the Wolverines 61-40 by claiming the top two places in many events, such as the 100-yard butterfly and the 50 and 100-yard freestyles.

This year, the Penguins hope to maintain their preeminence in the Bronx/Manhattan League and the PSAL as a whole. However, there is a lack of seniority on the team this year, with only five seniors and nine freshman. Despite this, the team is optimistic for the underclassmen, with many of the new Penguins impressing the captains. “We have awesome additions to our team, including sophomore Arielle Aney, who just broke 2:00 in her 200-yard freestyle during the recent meet against Bronx Science, and sophomore Emma Lee, who was MVP last year and made States in two individual events, the 50 free and the 100 free,” Wong said. Lee has already surpassed all expectations for this year, recording first place in all seven races she has competed in. This abundance of underclassmen talent will be something to note for the rest of the season.

Another point of emphasis this year for the Penguins was a coaching change in the offseason, with Ms. Silvana Choy becoming the head coach as former coach Peter Bologna became the new athletic director. Mr. Bologna, or Coach B, as he was colloquially referred to, coached both boys and girls swimming for countless years. He continues to pop up when meets are at Stuy, determined to help the teams however he can. Nonetheless, his replacement as coach was very unprecedented for the Penguins, with many finding it hard to imagine a coach for the swim team besides Coach B. “When we first found out Coach B wouldn't be our coach this year, we didn't know what to think. We couldn't imagine anyone except him coaching. However, Coach Choy quickly gained our love and respect. In the pool, she's really tough on us, but that's what makes us dedicated and fast swimmers. Outside of the pool, she's such a supportive and amazing person, and you can really tell she cares about all of us as people, not just swimmers,” Saliy said. Coach Choy has been very successful in her first month as coach, with the Penguins beating each team they’ve swam against by at least 10 points.

The Penguins are once again looking toward the postseason. The combination of a strong upperclassmen core, a rapidly developing underclassmen roster, and a new coach who has been highly effective early on makes a long playoff run highly feasible.