Borough Championships Recap

Manhattan Varsity Boys

The first race of the day gave us our only real upset. High School for Math, Science and Engineering (HSMSE) was the big favorite to win their first ever varsity borough championship, but was running without one of their top runners, Henry Dahl. Stuyvesant took advantage of this to score the 48-57 victory. (Of note: Placing Dahl into the standings with the same time as teammate Hoffman still left Stuy with a 1 point win.) Raphael Ramot of Stuyvesant outkicked Oliver Flor of Hunter and Ariel Yaron of LaGuardia to secure the borough title in 17:26.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. HSMSE        

2. Stuyvesant

3. Hunter

4. Bard

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Stuyvesant ❌

2. HSMSE ❌

3. Hunter ✅

4. Bard ✅

Manhattan Varsity Girls

The girls from LaGuardia easily won their first Borough Championship since 2013 and are not the prohibitive favorite to win the City Championship. Ella Cohen from Hunter did not compete, but has never run as fast as Naomi Douglas did yesterday. Douglas blazed her way to victory in an astonishing 18:39, which might be the 2nd fastest time at Van Cortlandt in PSAL history. Melia Murphy of Clinton School and Douglas’s teammate Gwyneth Shupp were 2nd and 3rd, respectively. These three represented the fastest three times of the entire day.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. LaGuardia 

2. Stuyvesant 

3. Beacon

4. Hunter

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. LaGuardia ✅

2. Stuyvesant  ✅

3. Beacon ✅

4. HSMSE   ❌  (to be fair, we did not know Cohen would not run)

Bronx Varsity Boys

Last week we wrote that the only suspense here would be to see if Bronx Science actually ran their full team. To no one’s surprise, they did not. Regardless, they still won easily, led by Bansi Pande in 17:02. Jack McCurry of HS of American Studies was 2nd in 17:19.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Bronx Science

2. HS of American Studies

3. Bathgate

4. Harry Truman

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Bronx Science                      ✅

2. HS of American Studies      ✅

3. Harry Truman         ❌

4. JFK Campus                         ❌

Bronx Varsity Girls

The Bronx Science girls won this race easily, by 43 points over RKA. RKA ran without either Villanueva sister and still placed 2nd. Rossitsa Petrova won her 2nd straight borough title, followed by teammate Charlotte Wang, who ran a huge PR of 20:45. Aisha Wajid of Dewitt Clinton was 3rd.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Bronx Science

2. HS of American Studies

3. Dewitt Clinton

4. Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Bronx Science                                 ✅

2. Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy    ❌

3. HS of American Studies                  ❌

4. Dewitt Clinton                                 ❌                 

Staten Island Varsity Boys

Running without Simon Saffeyeh, the MSIT boys still secured an easy victory, going 1-2-4-6-8. Preston Kostioukov won the individual title in 17:17. Curtis will be the only other Staten Island boys team represented at the City Championship in two weeks.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. MSIT

2. Curtis

3. Tottenville

4. Susan Wagner

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. MSIT     ✅

2. Curtis             ✅

3. Susan Wagner ❌

4. Tottenville       ❌

Staten Island Varsity Girls

Riley Tefft of Curtis ran a quick 20:00 to win this race by 100 seconds. Susan Wagner, with 3 freshmen in their top 5, took the team title. Tottenville was 2nd.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Susan Wagner

2. Tottenville

3. CSI-McCown

4. MSIT

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Susan Wagner ✅

2. Tottenville          ✅

3. CSI-McCown      ✅

4. Curtis     ❌                   

Brooklyn Varsity Boys

Not surprising to see Brooklyn Tech take the team title, but their score of 22 was certainly higher than expected. Brooklyn Tech teammates Alexander Jones and Amos Pres were the only two runners under 17 minutes on the day, running 16:51 and 16:56, respectively. Gavin Ashe (yep, her brother) finished 3rd for John Jay Campus.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Brooklyn Tech

2. John Jay Campus

3. Thomas Jefferson

4. James Madison

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Brooklyn Tech ✅

2. John Jay Campus     ✅

3. Thomas Jefferson    ✅

4. James Madison       ✅

Brooklyn Varsity Girls

Brooklyn Tech won this race easily, tallying only 19 points, even without senior Danielle Andrews. Kamora Ruelas of James Madison ran a very fast 21:04 to break up the Tech sweep. Susana Sharp of Brooklyn Tech won the race in 20:55.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Brooklyn Tech

2. John Jay Campus

3. James Madison

4. Benjamin Banneker

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Brooklyn Tech ✅

2. James Madison ❌

3. John Jay Campus     ❌

4. Midwood                ❌

Queens Varsity Boys

The Maru brothers of Academy of American Studies finished 1-2. Umed ran 17:14 and Anand ran 17:21. However, it wasn’t enough as HS for Construction beat them 47-50, led by the 3-4-5 finishes of Giuseppe Gambino, Resean Dunlop and Ryan Briones. As we said last week, this was a tough race to predict, and we definitely ranked Francis Lewis too high.

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. HS for Construction

2. Francis Lewis

3. Academy of American Studies

4. Forest Hills

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. HS for Construction ✅

2. Academy of American Studies ❌

3. Metropolitan Campus       ❌

4. Forest Hills                               ❌

Queens Varsity Girls

The last girls varsity race of the day was the closest with Townsend Harris edging Bayside, 53-57. Bayside’s Christina Sakellis won the race in 21:25, followed by Natalia Piszczatowski of Townsend Harris and Daphne Lin of Francis Lewis. Despite how close this borough is, it was the only girls race that we correctly predicted!

Projected Top 4 Teams:

1. Townsend Harris

2. Bayside

3. Francis Lewis

4. Forest Hills

Actual Top 4 Teams:

1. Townsend Harris ✅

2. Bayside       ✅

3. Francis Lewis     ✅

4. Forest Hills ✅

The following Boys teams qualified for the City Championship:

Bronx Science

Brooklyn Tech

MSIT

Stuyvesant

Hunter College Campus

HS of Math, Science and Engineering

Academy of American Studies

John Jay Campus

Curtis

HS for Construction

Bard

HS of American Studies

Thomas Jefferson

LaGuardia

Metropolitan Campus

Forest Hills

The following Girls teams qualified for the City Championship:

LaGuardia

Bronx Science

Brooklyn Tech

Stuyvesant

Susan Wagner

Beacon

Townsend Harris

Bayside

James Madison

HS for Math, Science and Engineering

Francis Lewis

Tottenville

John Jay Campus

Hunter College Campus

Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy

HS of American Studies

We’ll be back with an in-depth preview after next weekend’s Frosh/Soph City Championship!