2025 Season in Review

Another cross country season has come and gone. We saw both Individual Champions defend their titles and a new girls program rise to the top. And we predicted both Team Champions!

Boys

Met or Exceeded Program Expectations

Bronx Science - the boys from the Bronx defended their title, even without their top runner. At Feds, they finished 4^th and brought home some team hardware for the first time in program history. Benjamin Berman established himself as the fastest runner in PSAL history, all without winning a single race this season.

MSIT - With a 3^rd place finish at Cities and a coach that follows all of the rules, you can bet that the folks around the PSAL were excited to see them finish as the 2^nd PSAL team at Feds.

Stuyvesant - The boys from Manhattan returned only their top runner and their 7^th runner from last year’s team. We picked them 10^th to start the season, but there they were yet again finishing in the top four at the City Championship.

Susan Wagner - Getting the fastest freshman in PSAL history certainly helps, but this team didn’t even qualify for the championship race last year and finished 5^th this year, just missing out on qualifying for the Federation meet.

Hunter College Campus – While they certainly didn’t exceed expectations, one could argue that their 7^th place finish at Cities met their expectations from the start of the season. (We also picked them 7^th to start the season)

Underperformed in 2024

Brooklyn Tech – A runner-up finish at Cities is only underperforming by Tech standards. For the 2^nd straight year, they did not finish in the top 20 at the Federation Meet.

Academy of American Studies (Queens) – Umed Maru just earned All-Federation honors, but this program certainly had thoughts of qualifying as a team for Feds this season. The fact that they were without two of their top five from last season was the death knell for a small program such as this one.

John Jay Campus - Expectations were high for this squad this season and as the season progressed it looked more and more likely that this could be the 4^th best team in the city. Things went sideways at Cities and they fell all the way to 10^th place.

High School for Math, Science and Engineering - A down year for a program that has been continually on the rise. They battled injuries all season and finished a dismal 5^th in Manhattan. They rebounded at Cities to finish 6^th, but they didn’t qualify a single individual for the Federation meet. Add in the fact that their 5^th place finish at Freshman Championships, where they usually contend, was their worst finish since the Pandemic Restart.

Most Improved Runners

Adam Zarrilli (MSIT) - Zarrilli ran 17:57 to finish 27^th at Cities in 2024. In 2025, he ran 16:44 to finish 8^th.

Andrea Gallina (Susan Wagner) - Gallina didn’t even run at the City Championship in 2024. This year he ran 17:12 to finish 11^th.

Declan Olds (HS for American Studies) - Olds ran 19:24 at Cities in 2024 and ran 18:03 this season to qualify for the Federation meet as an individual.

Rookie of the Year

Tristan Acevedo (Susan Wagner) – If you are familiar with the youth running scene in NYC, then you knew this name. But Acevedo exceeded expectations breaking the Freshman PSAL records for the 1.5 mile course at VCP, the 5k course at VCP and the 5k course at Bowdoin.

Comeback runner of the Year

Ezekiel Cohen (LaGuardia) - Cohen was cruising through his junior year, improving with each race, before an injury derailed his season. This season he came storming back, finishing 3^rd at Cities and earning All-Federation honors with his 35^th place finish last weekend.

Coach of the Year

Scott Crabbe (MSIT) - It took a little bit for his program to recover after the Pandemic, but his boys finished 3^rd for the second straight year and were the 2^nd PSAL team to finish at the Federation meet. His JV boys took 2^nd at Cities and his Freshmen were City Champs. A successful campaign by any standards.

Girls

Met or Exceeded Program Expectations

LaGuardia - The Lady Lions dominated the league to bring home the first PSAL championship in program history. By mid-October, this squad had established itself as potential a top-ten team in the state. They finished 9^th in the Eastern States Championship at Manhattan as the 4^th New York team. Sadly, their momentum stalled and they could only muster a 19^th place finish at Feds. Still, a remarkable season for this program.

Susan Wagner - Their runner-up finish at Cities ties the program’s best-ever finish. This team graduates none of its top seven runners and if some of them can get back to the times they ran in 2024, this team will make a LaGuardia repeat more difficult.

Stuyvesant - Their top seven at Cities only contained three girls from their 2024 top seven, but they still managed to match their 3^rd place finish from 2024. Those three all graduate this year, so they’ll have to do some rebuilding in lower Manhattan. Still, pretty good for a team we had ranked at #7 to start the season.

Hunter - Another team that doesn’t graduate any of its top seven, their sophomores and freshman saw steady improvement throughout the year and managed a stellar 6^th place finish at Cities.

Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy - Their sophomore duo improved steadily all season long and both qualified as individuals for the Federation meet. For a small team, finishing inside the top ten (they finished 7^th), is a remarkable achievement.

Columbia Secondary School - 13^th place at the City Championship after being left off the preseason rankings is a tremendous leap. Their top runner qualified for the Federation meet as an individual and they don’t lose anyone to graduation.

Underperformed in 2024

Bronx Science - They only graduated one key runner from the 2024 squad that finished 4^th, but there was no improvement in most cases and they failed to finish in the top four again.

James Madison - One last chance for the 2022 Freshmen City Champions to live up to that potential, but they could only muster a 17^th place finish at Cities. The bright spot was Milani Modeste, who qualified as an individual for Feds.

Brooklyn Tech - It’s tough to argue that a 4^th place finish at Cities is underperforming, but when you’re the defending champs and you have 2,500 girls to choose from, that’s exactly what it is. Good news: they won the JV race at Cities and graduate none of their top seven.

Beacon - We had this promising young team ranked 5^th in the preseason before we knew how many talented freshmen they were getting. Even with that influx of talent, they could only muster a 10^th place finish at Cities.

Most Improved Runners

Sigrid Lussier (LaGuardia) - Improved her VCP 5k time from 23:51 to 21:11 and was a big part of the reason LaGuardia won the City Championship.

Saranya Vichaidith (Bronx Science) - Improved her VCP 5k time from 24:56 to 21:52 and qualified as an individual for the Federation meet.

Vivian Hoelscher and Vivian Champion (Stuyvesant) - Hoelscher (26:05 to 22:49) and Champion (31:15 to 23:27) were a big part of the reason Stuyvesant was able to extend their Federation qualifying streak.

Lily Korniewicz (Brooklyn Tech) - Improved at VCP from 24:53 to 22:36 and was a solid part of Tech’s scorers throughout the year.

Rookie of the Year

Maeve Heck (Tottenville) was the top freshman all season long, finished 4^th at Cities and ran under 20 minutes at the Federation Meet.

Comeback runner of the Year

Eva Marmolejos (Columbia Secondary) - After running her freshman year, Marmolejos opted to play soccer in 2024. But she came back with a vengeance in 2025, finishing 10^th at Cities and then running 20:29 at Bowdoin and finishing in the top 100 at Feds.   

Genevieve Backus (LaGuardia) - After a promising freshman campaign, Backus could only muster a 21:44 at VCP as a sophomore. This year, she finished 3^rd at Cities, running a blazing 20:09. A big part of the reason that her team had the success that it did.

Coach of the Year

James Marty (LaGuardia) - It would have been tough not to win with all of that talent, but despite some obvious struggles (injuries/sickness?), the right girls stepped up at the right time to save their season and help them bring home their first ever Championship. That’s a credit to the coaching and motivation that these girls received all year long. They did not back down from the adversity they faced.

Coming Soon… A way-to-early 2026 preview and maybe even some Indoor Track Distance Coverage. After all, the Armory isn’t that far from the Back Hills.