Under New Head Coach, Pirates Look to Repeat as City Champions

At the end of the 2016-17 season, the Stuyvesant boys’ varsity swimming & diving team had a record of eight wins and zero losses. The team also became the City Champions. This season, they are looking to replicate last year’s performance by defending their title.

There were only six seniors on the 32-member 2016-17 Pirates team: Brian Chan, Simon Chen, Lawrence Kwong, Joshua Lishnevetsky, Thomas Westfall, and Kevin J. Zheng. This means that this year’s team consists of most of last year’s undefeated team. One new addition, however, is Coach Silvana Choy.

Choy coached the Stuyvesant boys’ swim team before leaving after the 2006-2007 season. Now, after a 10-year break, she is back. “I am still getting to know the swimmers, but in the short time that I have been coaching them, it is easy to see that they are very hard workers in the pool,” said Choy about her first few days with the team. Usually, teams experience a rocky transition period following the introduction of a new coach, but Choy noted that her transition was quite smooth. “The captains have been very helpful with the coaching transition thus far,” she said.

To repeat as champions, the Pirates must have a roster of strong swimmers and divers. “I can tell you that the junior class is very strong and I expect great things from Nicholas Wen, Ethan Park, Axel Tolpina, Andrew Chopey, and Sean Roudnitsky. We are also very fortunate to have a diver, [senior] Cody Lin. He is diving beautifully and is going to contribute greatly to our points this season,” Choy said. Choy also commented on the new members of the team. “Two rookies, freshmen Osmond Wan and Tristan Pragnell… are both very talented, and I am excited to have them as part of our team,” she said.

Though the coach believes that the Pirates have a potent team, they still have powerful rivals to beat if they want to repeat as City Champions. Stuyvesant’s main rivals this season are the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. “It’s going to be a challenge to defeat Bronx Science in the dual meet season,” Choy said. Last year, the Pirates beat the Wolverines twice, once by a score of 56-38 and the other by a score of 55-47. If the Pirates can beat Bronx Science on Thursday, January 18, they will have a good shot at becoming City Champions.