Way-too-early 2025 Preview

The 2024 PSAL Cross Country season is over, but it’s never too early to look ahead to next fall. So here is a way-too-early preview for the next fall season based mostly on just getting rid of the seniors from the 2024 rankings.

Borough Favorites

Boys:

Staten Island:  MSIT                                                   Simon Saffayeh (MSIT)

Brooklyn:         Brooklyn Tech                                    Alexander Jones (Brooklyn Tech)

Queens:          Academy of American Studies         Umed Maru (Acad. of American Studies)

Bronx:             Bronx Science                                     Benjamin Berman (Bronx Science)

Manhattan:     HSMSE                                                Raphael Ramot (Stuyvesant)

Girls:

Staten Island:  Susan Wagner                                     Riley Tefft (Curtis)

Brooklyn:         Brooklyn Tech                                     Francesca Haidt (Brooklyn Tech)

Queens:           Townsend Harris                                 Natalia Piszczatowski (Townsend Harris)

Bronx:             Bronx Science                                     Aisha Wajid (Dewitt Clinton)

Manhattan:     LaGuardia                                            Naomi Douglas (LaGuardia)

City Championship Preview

Boys:

Clear Favorite:            

Bronx Science

No surprise here, as the defending champs only lose 2 of their top 7 and were stacked at both the sophomore and freshman level. Benjamin Berman will be back to defend his title and getting to train every day at Van Cortlandt is also a huge advantage.

Championship Contenders:

Brooklyn Tech

Also, no surprise here. Tech loses 2 of their top 7 but returns PSAL runner-up Alexander Jones. They also won the city JV race quite easily so there’s a lot of potential in reserve here.

Contenders to qualify for the Federation Championship:

Academy of American Studies (Queens)

Currently this squad, led by top returner Umed Maru, sits 3rd in the new merge. They return a squad of seven seniors determined to make school history.

HSMSE

Could next year be the year? The Purple Flying Dragons sit 4th in the merge that includes Wren Hansen, who has returned to their indoor team. Six of their top seven returners will be juniors in the fall, so the next few years look pretty promising.

MSIT

Losing two of your top three runners is always big deal, but this team, which currently sits 5th in the merge, returns enough of its varsity and its top JV runners that it shouldn’t fall too far.

Bard

Another team that returns all of its key parts, they come back next year with all seniors in their top seven. Four of whom have already broken 19 minutes at VCP. If they could find a 5th they might find themselves at Bowdoin in late November.

Hunter

Hunter loses its 2nd runner, Oliver Flor, and had no real JV team to speak of this season, but does return the City’s top sophomore and a talented freshman to build around.

John Jay

This team could be a sleeper pick come August. Their 7 top returners consist of 3 current sophomores and 4 current freshman. That’s a lot of solid talent to build around.

Cause for alarm

Stuyvesant

This team has qualified for the Federation meet in each of the last 4 years, but sits 9th in the current merge. They lose pretty much all but top returner Raphael Ramot and only left with 6 boys who have ever broken 20 minutes at Van Cortlandt.

Girls:

Clear Favorite

LaGuardia

2024’s runner-up returns all but 4th girl Anya Eder and wins the new merge by 26 points. They are likely to finish 1-2 again with Douglas and Shupp, and they return each of their top seven JV runners as well.

Championship Contenders:

Susan Wagner

Susan Wagner’s top seven returners include 3 freshman and 3 sophomores and are probably 1-2 more Fast Freshmen™ away from spoiling LaGuardia’s party. Remember the names: Abigail Robisky and Maeve Heck. Those are the Ocean Breeze Wave Runners’ top two eighth graders this year. It would not surprise us to see one or both of them in a Wagner uniform next year and that would certainly change the season’s outlook.

Brooklyn Tech

They do lose five of their top eight runners to graduation and that would be a big blow to most programs. But most programs don’t have over 2,500 girls to choose from. Throw in their high likelihood to be blessed with yet another Fast Freshman™ and they’ll be a big part of the discussion to defend their title.

Bronx Science

The Lady Wolverines only lose their top runner, but return their next seven girls. Their JV team only finished 8th at Cities, however, so depth is not currently on their side. But if their returning varsity improve like they did this season, they’ll give the teams they’re chasing a run for their money.

Stuyvesant

Stuyvesant is a program that currently has some decent depth and should be able to handle losing four of their top twelve runners to graduation. Like this season, their problem will likely be the lack of front-runners. Their top runner finished 6th at Cities this year in 20:26, but after that they have six girls that have run between 22:00 and 23:00 at Van Cortlandt.

Contenders to qualify for the Federation Championship:

Beacon

Beacon returns a top five of girls who have run between 21:05 and 23:03 at Van Cortlandt and run as a solid pack, which is a recipe for success in bigger meets.

HSMSE

This was a very promising squad before injuries derailed them late in the season. If healthy, they’ll return a team with no seniors in their top 5 with every girl having already broken 25 minutes.

Townsend Harris

Seemingly always in the conversation to qualify for Feds, they have a rising junior under 22 minutes and then six girls that have run between 23:16 and 23:48.

James Madison

This squad won the freshman city championship convincingly in 2022 and now this group will be seniors. If they all run close to their current PR’s at Van Cortlandt, they’ll shoot up the leaderboard quickly.

Francis Lewis

This squad will give Townsend Harris a run for the Queens borough championship and have a group returning that will be all seniors.

Cause for alarm

Hunter

2023’s PSAL Champs will have graduated all but one runner from the team that won it all. They didn’t field a JV team this year and will only have five girls back who competed in 2024. They are, however, one of only a few schools in the PSAL that can train their kids from 7th grade (or even earlier, in Hunter’s case).

Tottenville

This is a program that once dominated the PSAL. They sit 11th in the return merge after finishing 9th in 2024 and their JV team only finished 7th.

Program on the Rise

Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy

Their top seven returners are 3 current sophomores and 4 current freshmen. Getting to train at Van Cortlandt every day will definitely help.