PSAL Girls Preview

2025 in Review

In 2025, the LaGuardia girls took home their first ever PSAL Championship, and it wasn’t close. They were 15^th at the Federation meet. Susan Wagner tied their best-ever finish, claiming the runner-up spot and their sophomores won the City Championship. The Stuyvesant girls were third and Brooklyn Tech was fourth. Naomi Douglas of LaGuardia and Melia Murphy of The Clinton School earned All-State honors at the Federation meet. There’s been an interesting trend so far this decade: the City Championship meets in the even years have been close (2022: Stuyvesant over Bronx Science and Hunter and 2024: Brooklyn Tech over LaGuardia) and the ones in the odd years were decided long before the day the trophy was awarded. This being an even year, maybe we’ll get a close race.

2026 Preview

Borough-by-Borough Breakdowns:

Staten Island

Susan Wagner is the big favorite here as all seven varsity runners return. Melisa Davila is coming off an excellent track season and will challenge Maeve Heck (Tottenville) for the Borough crown. Tottenville should grab second rather easily. The battle for third is the one to watch here. The race between MSIT, Curtis and CSIHS/McCown will be a good one. There are also a Staten Island few club runners entering 9^th grade and it will interesting to see if any of them land in the PSAL.

Prediction:      1) Susan Wagner         2) Tottenville               3) Curtis

Brooklyn

Brooklyn Tech won this last year and has everyone back. should win this easily. The battle for second place could be very intense. The Midwood girls had a resurgence on the track and could be poised for a big Fall. John Jay Campus returns all of their runners and has one of the favorites to win the Borough in Matilda Quinn. James Madison graduated a ton of girls, but have a huge roster. Edward R. Murrow also has a large team and should battle Madison for 4^th.

Prediction:      1) Brooklyn Tech         2) Midwood                3) John Jay Campus

Queens

Townsend Harris has the top five returners in the Borough, and should easily win Queens. Among these runners are defending Borough Champ Natalia Piszczatowski and Fiona Loy Chan. Francis Lewis looks like a good bet for 2^nd. Third place could be a tight race between Benjamin Cardozo, Queens HS Complex and Metropolitan Campus. Bayside and Forest Hills could also sneak in here if they find a few runners to round out their top five.

Prediction:      1) Townsend Harris                 2) Francis Lewis                       3) Benjamin Cardozo

Bronx

Bronx Science returns all of their runners and should win the Bronx with ease. They’re led by Sally Kramer and Hazel Lyons-Baum. Riverdale-Kingsbridge Academy returns their two top runners, including defending Borough Champ Lily Rustin. However, they lost their 3-5 runners to graduation. At such a small school, it’s tough to replace that many runners in a single year. DeWitt Clinton will probably have a second Wajid sister to go with Aisha, which will put some pressure on Bronx Science. HS of American Studies has a large group of girls, but they’ll need to get faster if they’re to continue their streak of qualifying for the City Championship.

Prediction:      1) Bronx Science         2) Dewitt Clinton         3) HS of American Studies

Manhattan

At last year’s Manhattan Borough Championship, Melia Murphy (The Clinton School) ran the third fastest time in PSAL history over the 5K course at VCP… and lost. That likely will not happen again. The other near-certainty in this race will be a LaGuardia team victory. They lost two of their top three runners to graduation, but they have so much talent that it won’t matter. The race for second will be close, however. And once again, Manhattan could see as many eight teams qualifying for the City Championship. Stuyvesant and Hunter College Campus will likely battle for 2^nd, but smaller teams like HSMSE, Columbia Secondary and Bard have solid runners up front and could move up if they can find help on the back end.

Prediction:      1) LaGuardia               2) Hunter College Campus                  3) Stuyvesant

Back Hills XC - Preseason Rankings

1. LaGuardia - It looks very possible that LaGuardia will repeat as City Champions, something that hasn’t been done since MSIT did it in 2012 and 2013 (Tech won in 2019 and 2021, which you could argue also counts). Losing Douglas and Shupp will make a repeat more difficult, but there’s plenty of talent there. Genevieve Backus was 3^rd last Fall and should finish in the top five once again. For most of the team, however, their best race was the Manhattan Invitational. If that happens this season, there won’t be as much margin for error.

2. Susan Wagner - The girls from the Island return everyone, but aren’t very deep, so they’ll need everyone to be healthy. If they can run close to their personal bests, which many of them did not do last Fall, they’ll be a tough out. Front-runner Melisa Davila had a great Spring and if Riley Tefft can round back into form, that’s a tough 1-2 punch that even LaGuardia would have difficulty fending off.

3. Brooklyn Tech - The Tech girls bring everyone back this Fall and since they didn’t get a Fast Freshman™ last Fall, it’s likely they’ll get one this Fall. With a strong top-three of Francesca Haidt, Evelyn Craig and Tatiana O’Neal, if they can find a strong 4 and 5 runner, they’ll challenge Susan Wagner and maybe even LaGuardia. They’re on their 3^rd coach in 6 years as well, which might be tough to overcome for most programs.

4. Hunter College Campus - Another squad that returns everyone. Led by senior Noa Yirmiyahu, their last connection to their 2023 City Championship team. They’ll also have a pretty good freshman in Cali Ge, who ran a 5:25 in the 1500 on the track in the Spring (Hunter’s middle school team runs in the private school league).

5. Bronx Science - The Bronx Science girls were 5^th last season without Sally Kramer. She reappeared in the Spring, running very well. That will ease the pain of losing three of their top six runners from 2025.

6. Stuyvesant - Stuyvesant returns only two of their top five from 2025, Amanda Lee and Eliam Brody. They’ll need some girls to step up in order to extend their streak of qualifying for the Federation meet.

7. Townsend Harris - Townsend Harris returns six of their seven runners from last year, led by senior Natalia Piszczatowski. Arguably, no program in the city gets more from less. They haven’t had a single Fast Freshman™ this decade.

8. HS for Math, Science and Engineering - HSMSE returns two girls under 22 minutes in Phoebe Estep and Aiko Fitzgerald, and had few talented freshman last Fall. Together, that pack should finish in the top ten come November.

9. Tottenville - Sophomore Maeve Heck finished in the top five as a freshman and figures to repeat that performance this season. In order to move up this list, they’ll need faster performances from their 3-5 runners this season.

10. Columbia Secondary School - This program came out of nowhere last year to finish 13^th at Cities. They bring back their entire top five and their top runner, Eva Marmolejos, ran some fast times on the track with her club team.

11. Midwood - Their entire top five return, and they showed tremendous improvement on the track since last Fall’s 15^th place finish.

12. DeWitt Clinton - Now with two Wajid sisters! Along with sophomore Makayla McKenzie, they have a formidable top three, but will need to find two more.

13. Beacon - Losing their top two runners from Cities last year will hurt, but they also won the Freshmen City Championship, so there’s talent in waiting.

Honorable Mentions:, John Jay Campus, Bard, The Clinton School, Curtis