PSAL Championship Preview

 This Saturday is for all the marbles. The 16 best teams toe the line for the chance to bring home the banner and be crowned City Champions. The Brooklyn Tech boys’ chase for a 4th straight championship looks like it’s in serious jeopardy. Before the Pandemic a Manhattan girls team had only won one championship (HS of Health Professions in 2009). Now it’s very likely that a 3rd different Manhattan team will win a City Championship since the Pandemic restart.

Boys Championship Race – 10 AM

Predicted Finish:

1. Bronx Science – Getting to compete for a championship on a course you train on every day is certainly an advantage. Junior Ben Berman is a strong favorite to win the overall title. He’ll face strong competition from Brooklyn Tech’s Alexander Jones. The two will reprise their frosh championship duel where Berman was disqualified for elbowing and trying to run Jones off the course in the final stretch. Bansi Pande and Liam Fernandez are a formidable 2-3 and could also both finish in the top 5. Their 4-7 is anyone’s guess as they have a large number of talented runners who could fill that role and run under 18 minutes.

2. Brooklyn Tech – It’s rare that another team can have more depth than Brooklyn Tech, but Science definitely pulls that off this fall. The aforementioned Jones and Amos Pres will probably land in the top 5 and under 16:50. But that’s when Tech’s problems could start. Cullen McCleary and Dillon Chapuli lead a large group of runners that has run under 18 minutes. However, the back end of Tech’s pack hasn’t been in great form this season and will need some standout performances to beat Bronx Science.

3. MSIT – Another deep team that could put 3 in the top 10. Preston Kostioukov, Simon Saffeyeh  and Justin Berka can probably all dip under 17 minutes. It will be interesting to see if Kostioukov goes with Berman and Jones into the hills. If their 4-5 can run with Tech’s pack they could easily grab the 2nd place trophy.

4. HS for Math, Science and Engineering – From 1-5, no team in the PSAL has a tighter pack. That will be an important key if this team is going to qualify for the Federation meet for the first time in its history. Henry Dahl didn’t run boroughs, but worked out Saturday with his team. He and Brendan Hofmann provide the 1-2 punch up front, but they are followed closely by Isaac Tom, Max Berkson and Sean Chew.

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5. Stuyvesant – The battle for the final Feds qualifying spot should be a close one between these two Manhattan teams. Stuy beat HSMSE to win the Borough Championship and have the front runner that HSMSE lacks. Junior Raphael Ramot won the Manhattan Borough Championship and ran 16:51 last year at this meet. He could easily sneak into the top 5. With HSMSE’s top runners not appearing in the merge until the 20s, that’s a big advantage for Stuy. James Anderson and Chenming Fang are their likely 2-3 and will need to run with the front of the HSMSE pack if they hope to get to Feds.

6. Hunter – Led by Oliver Flor and Jasper Graham, the Hawks will likely have two in the top 20. Their top freshman, Lucien Jaccon, finished 3rd in the city this past weekend and will probably be their third man.

7. John Jay – A young team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, this might be too big a spot for them to finish much higher than this. But the future is certainly bright. Sophomores Gavin Ashe, Oliver Eaton and Wilson Margolis finished 2-7-8 at this past weekend’s Sophomore Championship and will lead them again this Saturday

8. HS for Construction – The 1-2 punch of Giuseppe Gambino and Resean Dunlop is slightly faster than Curtis’s 1-2 and freshman Denzel Reyes has been running well all year and could see a big drop in time in a faster race.

9. Curtis – Led by Randy Nieva and Noe Velez, the Curtis Warriors are better 3-5 than the teams chasing them. If this same group shows some improvement, they could easily jump to as high as 6th.

10. Academy of American Studies – The Maru brothers (Umed and Anand) will likely both finish in the top 15, which will give them a big advantage over the teams chasing them. After that, however, there’s a pretty big drop-off to their 3-5 runners and will probably be the reason teams like Curtis and John Jay finish ahead of them.

11. Bard – Top runner Ramsey Hansen battled the leaders in the Manhattan Championship before finishing 4th. Their 2-3 have broken 18:30 and if their 4-5 can drop some time, Bard might have its highest ever finish at the City Championship inside the top 10.

12. HS of American Studies – Senior Jack McCurry will battle for a top 10 spot, but there’s a big wait after him for their 2nd runner, which is why they land here at 12 and not higher.

13. LaGuardia – Ezekiel Cohen did not run at boroughs and if he doesn’t run here, LaGuardia will struggle to finish much higher than this. Ariel Yaron should land in the top 15, but there’s a several minute gap after that.

14. Thomas Jefferson – Isaiah Noel led a tight pack at the Brooklyn borough championships. Their 1-5 spread was just over a minute, and if they can improve as a pack they can certainly jump a few spots here.

15. Metropolitan Campus – Amenul Islam led the way at Boroughs and they’re another squad with a tight 1-5 spread. It was less than a minute at boroughs.

16. Forest Hills – The last team into the field for a reason – only two of their runners broke 20 minutes at the Queens championship and they’ll certainly need more boys to do that if they hope to not bring up the rear.

Girls Championship Race – 10:30 AM

Predicted Finish:

1. LaGuardia – The big favorites to take home the school’s first ever PSAL title, they’ll likely have 2 of the first 3 runners to finish. Naomi Douglas looks to break the PSAL record for Van Cortlandt, after running 18:39 at boroughs. Gwyneth Shupp is also under 20 minutes and will probably give Ella Cohen a run for 2nd. Genevieve Backus is their likely 3rd finisher and will likely land in the top 15. All of this was known about LaGuardia entering the season. Their 4th and 5th runners, Virginia Begley and Anya Eder, have shown great improvement and that’s why they are the favorites heading into this weekend.

2. Brooklyn Tech – Since they last won in -2021, the City Championship hasn’t been very kind to this program. They’ve finished 5th at each of the last 2 City Championships, but look like they’ve regained their depth. Susana Sharp was 3rd here last year and should land in the top 5 again. Fast Freshman™ Evelyn Craig and former Fast Freshman™ Francesca Haidt form a great 2-3 and could both find themselves in the top 10. Resurgent former Fast Freshman™ Danielle Andrews didn’t run at Boroughs, but looked really fast at the Manhattan Invitational. They’ll need that Danielle to show up if they hope to take down LaGuardia.

3. Bronx Science – Rossitsa Petrova and Charlotte Wang form a fast 1-2 punch that will both challenge for the top 5. Both ran faster than 20:45 at Boroughs. Fast Freshman™ Adelaide McDonough has been a game-changer for them this season and will be a big part of the reason they land on the podium.

4. Stuyvesant – This group hasn’t finished worse than 2nd since the Pandemic restart, but it’s going to be a tough hill to climb to keep that streak going. In the boroughs merge, Emma Savonijie, Emily Li, and Honora Muratori were 9-11-15. Savonije has also run much faster on this course, so she could land more towards the front with a solid race. The three teams Stuy is chasing pull away from them after that. It’ll take faster races from Stuy’s 4-7 to give them a chance at a trophy.

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5. Susan Wagner – This is a very young and hungry team, but they probably find themselves slightly overmatched by the four teams ahead of them. However, if Bronx Science or Stuyvesant slips up, this group could find themselves going to the Federation meet. Freshmen Milani Jackson and Malina Rodriguez-King and sophomore Melisa Davila will likely lead this group for years to come.

6. Hunter – The lightning in a bottle is almost out. This group could put 2 in the top 5 with Ella Cohen and Noa Yirmiyahu and another in the top 30 with Emma Baltrusaitis, but after that it's anyone’s guess. Still, they’ll always have their incredible 2023 to reflect on.

7. Beacon – June Selib leads a pretty tight pack that will all probably finish in the top 50. If they can make some moves as a pack, then they can probably jump Hunter for 6th.

8. Bayside – After losing to Townsend Harris at Boroughs, we see them getting their revenge. Their 1-3 (Christina Sakellis, Jessica Ryan, and Natalie Niselson) are certainly faster than that of Townsend Harris. Their 4-5 will be toward the back of the field, but there might not be too many girls back there to separate the Townsend Harris pack from them.

9. Townsend Harris – Front runner Natalia Pisczcatowski will battle for a spot in the top 20. After that, they have a good pack of runners just under 24 minutes. Their 2-7 all ran between 23:16 and 23:54 at the Queen Championship to beat Bayside.

10. James Madison – Kamora Ruelas ran a great race at Boroughs, clocking 21:04 to finish 2nd to Brooklyn Tech’s Susana Sharp. Two years ago, this group won the Freshmen City Championship, so there’s talent there. If it shakes out in their favor, they could probably finish as high as 7th.

11. HS for Math, Science and Engineering – The Ghosts are fairly certain they saw HSMSE’s top runner on crutches this past weekend, which is a terrible setback for both her and her team. Without her leading the way, the purple team most likely drops out of the top ten. Alina Mertens Schill will grab the reigns to lead them.

12. RKA – Another very young team, they ran without the Villanueva sisters and still qualified for this race. Freshmen Lily Rustin and Addison Ireland (yep, his sister) could be in for a big drop in time running in a more competitive race.

13. Francis Lewis – Daphne Lin can run under 22 minutes and they’ll probably have enough girls under 24 minutes to hold off Tottenville and the other teams behind them. It wouldn’t surprise us to see them jump into the top 10, either.

14. Tottenville – Olivia McComiskey ran under 22 minutes at Staten Island Borough Champs to finish as a distant runner up to Riley Tefft. Not a whole lot of depth after her, though.

15. John Jay – Led by Fast Freshman™ Matilda Quinn, they have a solid 1-3, but lack depth thereafter.

16. HS of American Studies – Haley Rodriguez should scare the top 20, but it falls off a lot for them after that.

Athletes not on teams that qualified for the team championship can run in the individual race. If their time breaks into the Top 12 times of girls not on a top 4 team, they qualify for the Federation meet as an individual.

Boys Individual Race – 9 AM

Contenders: David Delcid (Susan Wagner), Nicholas Cisak (Tottenville), Roman Chin (Francis Lewis), Marco Arrojo (Lab Museum)

It is unlikely that anyone from this race will qualify for Feds.

Girls Individual Race – 9:30 AM

Unlike the boys race, a number of girls from this race will break into the Top 12.

Contenders: Melia Murphy (Clinton School), Riley Tefft (Curtis), Aisha Wajid (Dewitt Clinton), Eleanor Lewis Jenkins (Bard), Maya Zolotariov (Pace), Margaret Mumford (Forest Hills), Denise Samaniego (Forest Hills), Kylie Comas (Benjamin Cardozo).