Battling the elements, Bronx Science underclassmen win PSAL championship

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The runners in Saturday’s Public School Athletic League freshman/sophomore cross country championships assumed their competition would come from the rivals running alongside them, but the elements also challenged the runners’ fortitude.

The teams endured cold, cutting rain and mud and bone-chilling wind at Van Cortlandt Park — but Bronx Science’s boys and girls freshmen teams emerged victorious.

In a sport where low scores win, the Bronx Science boys edged out Staten Island’s Tottenville High School for the title by a slim, 67-71 margin. Three Bronx Science runners finished in the top-14 among 151 competitors. Jason Clark took fourth place in the 1.5-mile run with a time of 9:30.43, Cy Toriello finished in an eighth-place time of 9:49.11 and Alexander Chu was 14th after crossing the finish line in 9:58.8.

“We fought hard,” said Wolverines boys coach Mike Wei. “For a lot of these guys, [this season is] the first time they’re running cross country in their lives.”

Under a sky sheeted stark and grey, onlookers watched huddled behind any means of protection they could find. Their guttural cheers and consistent chants of first names made it clear the tempest around them could not suppress their spirit.

More importantly, the runners defied the challenge the weather presented, demonstrating physical and mental grit, a human characteristic hard statistics alone could not capture.   

Wei expressed confidence in his squad even before he learned the results. 

“This team has a lot of potential,” he said, anticipating their success. Still, he was mindful of his skilled opponents, specifically Tottenville, who he knew “would be tough.”

Bronx Science’s Jacob Solomon finished second in the 2.5-mile sophomore race in 13:54.50, and the Wolverines’ sophomore team placed third. Emanuel Aldebot of the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141) finished 15th with a time of 14:50.68.

 

Girls take team title

In the 1.5-mile freshman girls race, DeWitt Clinton’s Amber Ayala finished second in 10:14.90, but Bronx Science took the team title.

Bronx Science’s Ally Freifeld (10:32.08) finished third, Natasha Stamler (11:29.62) was ninth, Summer Asman (11:48.20) was 13th and Rosemary Carr-Smith (11:51.03) placed 14th to give the Wolverines an overwhelming 69-point advantage over second-place Brooklyn Tech.

It was the first time the Bronx Science freshman girls won the championship.

“This is the best freshman team I’ve had in almost 40 years,” said coach Ken Miller. “They work hard, they’re motivated, and they want to achieve success, and they did.”

In the 2.5-mile sophomore race, Bronx Science’s Olivia Guan finished 32nd with a time of 18:57.37.

Bronx Science, Tottenville High School, Mike Wei, Zachary Stein

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