Spartans Show Passion in Hard-Fought Match

The final whistle blew, signaling the end of a hard-fought battle between Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn Technical High School. After 11 intense one-on-one matches, the final score was revealed: Brooklyn Tech 84, Stuyvesant 0. But aside from this loss, the Stuyvesant boys’ wrestling team, the Spartans, is off to a solid start this season. The team has a PSAL record of 4-2, a marked improvement from last year’s PSAL record of 2-5. The Spartans currently are fourth in the Brooklyn division, which has a total of eight teams. The Spartans are not yet top dogs in their division because two of their four wins this year have come from forfeits from the opposing team, leaving the Spartans with a record of 2-2 in matches that have been played out.

Stuyvesant was placed in the Staten Island division in the 2016-2017 season along with schools such as Baruch, Staten Island Tech, and Susan Wagner. As there is no Manhattan Division, all of the Manhattan schools are mixed into the other boroughs’ divisions. This season, Stuyvesant was placed in the Brooklyn division, offering a fresh opportunity to make a stab at the playoffs. However, three schools in the new division finished with at least six wins out of eight last year, providing a challenge that the Spartans have yet to overcome.

As shown by the 84-0 loss to Brooklyn Tech on January 11, there are still many areas that need improvement. The Spartans weren’t looking to win this dual meet, since Brooklyn Tech has been undefeated for the past four seasons. “We knew we were going to lose badly. Most of the guys that wrestled were pretty inexperienced. Honestly, they just need more time on the mat, working through motions and internalizing them,” senior and co-captain Allard Peng said. Though it wasn’t a win in the scorebooks, it was another learning experience for the newer members, which will continue to help their growth.

These school versus school meets are especially useful for the newcomers to prepare for weekend tournaments, which the team has had much better success in. “We are a tournament team,” head coach Michael Cigala said. They have proved that to be true in the first weekend brawl of the season: for the first time in Stuyvesant’s history, they won first place honors out of 15 teams. They have placed second in the two tournaments since then, which is very respectable for a team made up mostly of underclassmen.

The Spartans lost key individuals from the 2017 season, such as Cade Caddoman, who finished second at the City Championships last year in the 170-pound weight class. However, they are confident that the newcomers will quickly pull their weight on the team. “We have mostly first year wrestlers who work out six days a week, who are very, very dedicated,” coach Cigala said. “We have more freshmen [and] sophomores ever in the history of Stuyvesant Wrestling.” He later added that this sets up success for the future very well. This will also be due to intensive practices. “I stress conditioning, I stress a lot of drilling [and] repetitions of different moves. Wrestling is six minutes, we wrestle nine-minute matches,” he said.

The Spartans have their work cut out for them and are already on an upward path. “I'm going to Mayor’s Cup again this year, [as the] sixth seed. [The team’s] goal is to win the Borough of Manhattan Championships,” Peng said.

As for the rest of the team, each individual will continue to work hard, and the younger wrestlers will gain more experience. “Are we Brooklyn Tech yet? No,” Cigala said. “We’re not there yet. But everything is looking up.”