PSAL City Championship Recap

This past Saturday The Bronx Science boys earned their three-peat and the Brooklyn Tech girls won yet another banner. The day began with the individual races, for athletes on teams that did not qualify for the Championship race.

Boys Individual Race

The boys individual race was won by Hodaifa Elkayfe of Port Richmond in 18:22. He was followed by Collin Toung of Manhattan Center and Jonah Fox-Chmielewski of Queens HS Complex in 18:34. However, no one from this race qualified for the NYS Federation Meet.

Let’s look back at what we said in our preview:

Contenders: Collin Toung (Manhattan Center), Hodaifa Elkayfe, (Port Richmond), Justin Ortega (Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice), Layden Irving (Thomas Jefferson), Aram Sargsyan (James Madison), Borut Junior Vojnic (Manhattan Center), Jonah Fox-Chmielewski (Queens HS Complex), Daniel Dimeola (New Dorp)

Actual Results:

Collin Toung (Manhattan Center)                                                       2^nd

Hodaifa Elkayfe, (Port Richmond)                                                      1^st

Justin Ortega (Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice)    7^th

Layden Irving (Thomas Jefferson)                                                      6^th

Aram Sargsyan (James Madison)                                                       4^th

Borut Junior Vojnic (Manhattan Center)                                            5^th

Jonah Fox-Chmielewski (Queens HS Complex)                       3^rd

Daniel Dimeola (New Dorp)                                                               8^th

Pretty good, no?

Girls Individual Race

The girls race also did not have any qualifiers for the Federation Meet. Fast Freshman™ Dylan Stoer of Eleanor Roosevelt won the race in 21:56. Abigail Luna Morales of Maspeth ran 22:26 to finish 2^nd. They were the only two under 23 minutes.

Let’s look back at what we said in our preview:

Contenders: Salimata Timite (Evander Childs), Addison Ireland (RKA), Parisa Lee (Gaynor Campus), Kenley Miller (Lab Museum), Dylan Stoer (Eleanor Roosevelt), Abigail Luna Morales (Maspeth), Tessa Cruz (Queens HS Complex), Clea Jaumont-Charles (Queens HS Complex), Jenny Ren (MSIT), Elisa Torres (New Dorp)

Actual Results:

Salimata Timite (Evander Childs)                           Did not run

Addison Ireland (RKA)                                                Did not run

Parisa Lee (Gaynor Campus)                                   3^rd

Kenley Miller (Lab Museum)                                      Did not run

Dylan Stoer (Eleanor Roosevelt)                        1^st

Abigail Luna Morales (Maspeth)                             2^nd

Tessa Cruz (Queens HS Complex)                             4^th

Clea Jaumont-Charles (Queens HS Complex)       6^th

Jenny Ren (MSIT)                                                        5^th

Elisa Torres (New Dorp)                                           34^th

Ok, so not as good as our boys predictions.

Boys Championship Race

Bronx Science finished 4-5-10-14-20 to beat MSIT by 20 points. Susan Wagner took 3^rd and High School for Math, Science and Engineering took the final Feds qualifying spot, their first Federation berth ever.

The following boys qualified as individuals:

Yousef Abdelhakim - Midwood

Jasper Graham – Hunter College Campus

Henry Bissell - John Jay Campus

Marco Arrojo - Lab Museum

Declan Olds - HS of American Studies

Anders Collier - John Jay Campus

Tyler Horiuchi - Stuyvesant

Marcos Penaranda - Curtis

Wilson Margolis - John Jay Campus

Wyatt Weller - LaGuardia

Finn Bache - Brooklyn Tech

Wyatt Watson - Brooklyn Tech

Team-by-team breakdowns 

Bronx Science

Predicted Finish:        1^st                    Actual Finish:  1^st 

After their first two runners, they trailed MSIT, but sealed the victory when Eliot Faith and Aldo Hilpert-Navas crossed the line before MSIT’s 3^rd runner. They had five runners finish between 16:45 and 17:30 and that is certainly a recipe for winning.

MSIT

Predicted Finish:        2^nd                   Actual Finish:  2^nd 

Hope was high for the Island when Adam Zarrilli crossed the line in first, followed by Scott Kelly in 6^th. However, the remaining seniors in their top five didn’t seem to run as well as they probably could have and sadly, that was the difference. Their JV boys won the JV race, so the depth is there and we’ll be seeing this group in contention for the next few years.

High School for Math, Science and Engineering

Predicted Finish:        3^rd                    Actual Finish:  4^th

Top runner Wren Hansen ran 30 seconds slower than he did at Boroughs, and that was enough to drop them from 3^rd to 4^th. However, they still qualified for the Federation meet for the first time in program history after their 2-5 runners all finished between 31^st and 39^th. This is one of the smallest schools in the PSAL (Brooklyn Tech has roughly ten times as many boys to choose from), so this is an impressive accomplishment for this program.

John Jay Campus

Predicted Finish:        4^th                    Actual Finish:  5^th

Another year where they probably should have finished in the top four but didn’t. Top runners Henry Bissell (8^th, 16:56) and Anders Collier (15^th, 17:10) had them in good position, but the depth just wasn’t there. A lot of this team will be back next year and they still have freshmen Ethan Riordan who was ineligible this season because of a mid-season transfer. I’m sure they’ll figure out soon enough to make sure they get their friends to transfer in the winter or spring to be ready for next Fall.

Hunter College Campus

Predicted Finish:        5^th                    Actual Finish:  8^th

We said in our preview that this prediction depended on the health and performance of Lowen Zuo. He tried to run, but ended up dropping out and dropping them in the standings. Senior Jasper Graham finished in the top ten, placing 7^th and running 16:53. It’s a big loss, but he’s the only one graduating from their top five.

Susan Wagner

Predicted Finish:        6^th                    Actual Finish:  3^rd

Apologies to the Falcons for underestimating them. After three runners, they were actually ahead of their Island rivals, MSIT. Their top three runners, Tristan Acevedo, Ayman Alshawih and Andrea Gallina all ran 17:04 or faster and finished 2-11-12. Unfortunately, the latter two are seniors and there was a two-minute gap between their 3^rd and 4^th runners.

Brooklyn Tech

Predicted Finish:        7^th                    Actual Finish:   6^th

For the first time since 2012, the Brooklyn Tech team did not qualify for the Federation meet. Finn Bache and Wyatt Watson finished 27^th and 28^th to lead them. It seemed like a rough season for Tech, dealing with injuries to some of their top runners, but I doubt anyone will feel bad for them.

Stuyvesant

Predicted Finish:        8^th                    Actual Finish:  7^th

Top runner Tyler Horiuchi picked the right time to run the fastest time of his career, finishing 17^th, running 17:15, 23 seconds faster than he ran at Boroughs. His teammates, however, didn’t fare as well. None of the other Stuyvesant boys ran faster than they did at Boroughs, but they still finished higher than predicted.

Lab Museum

Predicted Finish:        9^th                    Actual Finish:  9^th

Marco Arrojo ran 17:00 to place in the top ten and lead Lab to their best finish in school history. Their top two runners come back next year, too.

HS of American Studies

Predicted Finish:        10^th                  Actual Finish:  10^th

Declan Olds ran 26 seconds faster than he did at Boroughs to qualify as an individual for the Federation meet. As a team, they ran basically the same 5 man average that they did at Boroughs, hence finishing exactly where we thought they would.

Metropolitan Campus

Predicted Finish:        11^th                  Actual Finish:  12^th 

Their top four runners finished within a minute of each other, led by Simon Bird’s 41^st place finish in 18:29. However, their fifth man from Boroughs didn’t run and it dropped them back to 12^th.  

Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy

Predicted Finish:        12^th                  Actual Finish:  14^th

Mason Tejada basically matched his performance from Boroughs to finish 38^th in 18:21. However, two weeks ago they had four boys under 19:14 and this weekend they only had Tejada.

Curtis

Predicted Finish:        13^th                  Actual Finish:  11^th

Their top two runners didn’t run as fast as they did two weeks ago, although Marcos Penaranda still qualified individually for Feds by running 17:25 to finish 18^th. However, runners 3-6 all improved, which is how they jumped up the standings.

Bard

Predicted Finish:        14^th                  Actual Finish:  15^th

Griffin Egozi ran 18:40 to finish 45^th overall. Their five-man average was 17 seconds slower at Cities, but this is a young team that graduates none of their top five, which includes two freshmen and two sophomores.

LaGuardia

Predicted Finish:        15^th                  Actual Finish:  19^th

Wyatt Weller ran 17:33 to finish 20^th and qualify for the Federation meet. The rest of the team ran slower than Boroughs and they were missing a runner, which made them plummet down the standings.

Midwood

Predicted Finish:        16^th                  Actual Finish:  13^th

They were only 8 seconds faster at Cities, but climbed spots from where they landed in the Borough merge. Yousef Abdelhakim ran 16:43 to finish 3^rd.

Francis Lewis

Predicted Finish:        17^th                  Actual Finish:  17^th

Austin Zhu bettered his Boroughs time by 20 seconds to finish 60^th. They were missing a man at Cities, but still finished where we predicted.

CSIHS/McCown

Predicted Finish:        18^th                  Actual Finish:  16^th

Ostap Makovetskyi ran 18:40 finish 46^th overall. As a team they were a little slower than Boroughs, but still finished 16^th.

West End Secondary

Predicted Finish:        19^th                  Actual Finish:  18^th

Gilad Abramson ran 19:17 to finish 65^th. Most of the team was a little slower than Boroughs.

HS for Construction

Predicted Finish:        20^th                  Actual Finish:  21^st

They were nearly a minute slower than they were at Boroughs, hence the last place finish.

Tottenville

Predicted Finish:        21^th                  Actual Finish:  20^th

They were also a lot slower than Boroughs, just not as badly as HS for Construction

Girls Championship Race

The largest high school in the country (Brooklyn Tech) brought home yet another title on Saturday, outrunning a game Susan Wagner squad. LaGuardia was a distant third and John Jay Campus, with two girls in the top five, finished fourth.

Before the team breakdowns, we’ll explore the impact of both the Fast Freshmen™ and the XC newcomers.

This impact of getting girls who are fast on day one is quite evident on the girls side. Take a look at the teams that qualified for the Federation meet this season and how many current or former Fast Freshman™ they ran in the race… and then compare that to the rest of the teams who raced.

1. Brooklyn Tech                3          (Haidt, Walther, Murphy)

2. Susan Wagner                     2          (Rodriguez-King, Pantaleo)

3. LaGuardia                            3          (Backus, Grunden, Gaudissard)

4. John Jay Campus                 2          (Quinn, Grogan)

_______________________________

5. Stuyvesant                          1          (Brody)

6. Bronx Science                      1          (McDonough)

7. Beacon                                0

8. HSMSE                                 0

9. Townsend Harris                 0

10. Curtis                                 0

11. Manhattan Center             0

12. Hunter                               1          (Yirmiyahu)

13. The Clinton School            1          (Murphy)

14. Bard                                  1          (Lewis-Jenkins)

15. Midwood                          0

16. Columbia Secondary         0

17. DeWitt Clinton                  1          (Wajid, A.)

18. Edward R Murrow             0

19. HS of American Studies    0

20. WESS                                 0

21. Bayside                              0

22. Tottenville                         1          (Heck)

Another way to look at these results is to see which teams added more talent that wasn’t on their roster in the Fall of 2025. If you only use girls that were on their roster in 2025, the standings look a little different.

For one, Brooklyn Tech, who added three new girls would fall to second. Susan Wagner, even without the Fast Freshman™ they added this year, would have won the championship. LaGuardia would’ve remained third despite adding two fast girls. John Jay Campus would drop all the way to ninth without their Fast Freshman™.  Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, who each added one new girl, would jump up to 4^th and 5^th, respectively.

The following girls qualified as individuals in this race:

Melia Murphy - The Clinton School

Eva Marmolejos - Columbia Secondary

Tula Halladay - Edward R. Murrow

Natalia Piszczatowski - Townsend Harris

Sally Kramer - Bronx Science

Cameron Hetherington - HS for Math, Science and Engineering

Maya Desideria Sullivan - Midwood

Ella Jenson - The Clinton School

Noa Yirmiyahu – Hunter College Campus

Aisha Wajid - DeWitt Clinton

Meena Morris - Curtis

Hazel Lyons-Baum - Bronx Science

Team-by-team breakdowns

LaGuardia

Predicted Finish:        1^st                    Actual Finish:  3^rd

Leah Belyavsky finishes her first and only XC season with a 3^rd place finish, running 19:16, which ranks her in the top 15 all-time in the PSAL. Besides her, only one other girl ran faster than they did at Boroughs (Gaudissard). With four seniors in this group, next Fall might be a little more difficult unless they get their 5^th Fast Freshman™ in six years.

Brooklyn Tech

Predicted Finish:        2^nd                   Actual Finish:  1^st

The Tech girls were 20 seconds faster at Cities than they were at Boroughs. Three of their top five runners weren’t even on their roster last year. They’ve now won three championships this decade with three different coaches. Tatiana O’Neal ran 90 seconds faster than she did at Boroughs, which was a big reason why they were able to hold off Susan Wagner.

Susan Wagner

Predicted Finish:        3^rd                    Actual Finish:  2^nd 

The Wagner girls ran 30 seconds faster than they did at Boroughs, with both Melisa Davila and Riley Tefft landing in the top ten. Junior Alisa Kiliarska improved by nearly 90 seconds since last Fall and that was a big part of them overcoming some of their losses.

Bronx Science

Predicted Finish:        4^th                    Actual Finish:  6^th

The Bronx Science girls ran their full team at Cities and were still four seconds slower than they were at Boroughs. Sally Kramer and Hazel Lyons-Baum, both ran fast enough to qualify for the Federation meet, but they only had one other girl break 23 minutes. They’re losing three seniors to graduation and their JV squad finished 7^th, so they’ll need some help for next Fall.

John Jay Campus

Predicted Finish:        5^th                    Actual Finish:  4^th

John Jay Campus placed two PPYRC girls in the top five to hold off Stuyvesant for the final Federation spot. Their top three girls will be back next year, but they lose 4 and 5 and their 6^th girl didn’t break 26 minutes this past weekend.

Stuyvesant

Predicted Finish:        6^th                    Actual Finish:  5^th

Thirteen different schools had a runner finish before Stuyvesant’s top runner this past weekend, which should not have been the case, but their top girls had off days at the worst possible time. According to our research, this is the first time since 2018 that a team finish 5^th but didn’t qualify a single runner for the Federation meet. The good news is that they finished 5^th in the City after finishing 6^th in their Borough.

Beacon

Predicted Finish:        7^th                    Actual Finish:  7^th

Beacon had a very impressive 1-5 spread of :35, but their top runner didn’t cross the line until 40^th place. However, only one girl graduates this year, so lots of potential here for Beacon to climb these standings next Fall.

HS for Math, Science and Engineering

Predicted Finish:        8^th                    Actual Finish:  8^th 

Sophomore Cameron Hetherington continued her excellent sophomore year with a 13^th place finish, running 20:53. An unfortunate DNF prevented them from finishing any higher.

Hunter College Campus

Predicted Finish:        9^th                    Actual Finish:  12^th 

Their 5 girl average was nearly 50 seconds slower than they ran at Boroughs, which is why they tumbled down the standings. However, six of these seven girls return next year.

Manhattan Center

Predicted Finish:        10^th                  Actual Finish:  11^th

From unranked to 11^th place, this squad is small, but they have no seniors. They were 20 seconds slower than Boroughs, or else they may have landed in the top ten in their first-ever City Championship race.

Bard

Predicted Finish:        11^th                  Actual Finish:  14^th

Finished down in 14^th thanks to having a 1-5 average of more than 30 seconds slower than Boroughs. Three of their top five graduate.

Townsend Harris

Predicted Finish:        12^th                  Actual Finish:  9^th 

Unlike most teams on this day, the Queens champs ran a faster 1-5 average than they did at Boroughs to jump into the top ten. Senior Natalia Piszczatowski finished 10^th in 20:46.

Midwood

Predicted Finish:        13^th                  Actual Finish:  15^th

Maya Desideria Sullivan ran 21:12 to finish 16^th and qualify for the Federation meet, but as a team they were considerably slower than they were at Boroughs.

Columbia Secondary

Predicted Finish:        14^th                  Actual Finish:  16^th 

Eva Marmolejos finished 7^th in 20:33 to qualify for the Federation meet for the second straight year, but they were nearly 40 seconds slower than Boroughs as a team.

The Clinton School

Predicted Finish:        15^th                  Actual Finish:  13^th

The Clinton School had not one, but two girls qualify for the Federation Meet, helping them finish 13^th in the city. Melia Murphy ran 18:45 to be crowned City Champion. Ella Jenson ran nearly two minutes faster than she did at Boroughs to finish 17^th (after finishing 37^th at Boroughs).

Edward R. Murrow

Predicted Finish:        16^th                  Actual Finish:  18^th

If you remember back in August, we identified Edward R. Murrow as a possible program to watch thanks to their size and diverse demographics. And they proved us right, qualifying for Cities and placing top three at the City Freshman Championship. One of their top five girls missed the Varsity race and had to run JV, so they finished lower than they probably should have.

DeWitt Clinton

Predicted Finish:        17^th                  Actual Finish:  17^th

Aisha Wajid ran 21:20 to finish 19^th and qualify for the Federation meet. Her sister, Sakinah, was her only other teammate to finish inside the top 100. But we all know help is on the way…

Curtis

Predicted Finish:        18^th                  Actual Finish:  10^th

Big miss here by us. We missed that Meena Morris didn’t run at Boroughs and obviously that dropped them in the merge. She was their top runner at Boroughs, finishing 20^th in 21:21 and qualifying for the Federation meet. With her in the lineup, their 1-5 average was more than a minute faster than Boroughs.

West End Secondary

Predicted Finish:        19^th                  Actual Finish:  20^th

Their top runner, Gia West, is only a freshman and she ran 23:38 to finish 71^st.

HS of American Studies

Predicted Finish:        20^th                  Actual Finish:  19^th

An off race by one of their top runners prevented them from finishing higher, but they still beat our prediction for them.

Tottenville

Predicted Finish:        21^st                  Actual Finish:  22^nd

The Maeve Heck DNF removed any chance they wouldn’t finish last.

Bayside

Predicted Finish:        22^nd                 Actual Finish:  21^st

Nearly a minute slower as a team than they ran at Boroughs, but they still beat Tottenville.

Boys JV Race

The boys from MSIT took home the JV race by seven points over Brooklyn Tech. Bronx Science and Stuyvesant followed. Federation qualifier Susan Wagner didn’t field a JV team. The race was won by Chenul Gamage (MSIT) in 18:17. Two freshmen, Nicolas Gontero (18:22) of Stuyvesant and Miles Albano (18:40) of Brooklyn Tech finished in the top five.

Girls JV Race

Brooklyn Tech placed 6 runners in the top 8 to run away with the JV race (They ran 31 girls in the race). Tech’s Maya Ochsenkuehn won the race in 22:11. After winning this race last year, River Duerr of LaGuardia was second in 22:22, leading her team to second place. Beacon was 3^rd and Stuyvesant was 4^th. Of the Federation qualifiers, Susan Wagner was 10^th and John Jay Campus did not field a full team.