With 11 consecutive Manhattan borough championship titles under coach Mark Mendes, the Stuyvesant boys’ cross-country team has a long tradition of excellence. The new season sees the return of now seniors and co-captains Ted Westling and Sam Frizell and sophomore Daniel Hyman-Cohen as well as the introduction of senior Joey Krutov to the team.
On joining the team his senior year Krutov said, “I went to a Jewish school before and my mother was not really okay with me competing on Saturdays. Since then I’ve changed my mind and my mother has as well. It took a bit of time though.”
Krutov attended the team’s no cut tryouts last June and cross-country camp in August. “His talent was immediately obvious. [at tryouts]. By the time camp came around, he was running two workouts per day with the other varsity athletes,” said Mendes. However, he has a long way to go after a late start. “Joey is a work in progress. He has a very high aerobic threshold, good enough speed and a great competitive instinct,” said Mendes. “But, he has not yet learned to run at a conversational pace on recovery days.”
Krutov began running on his own on the boardwalk at Brighton beach, Brooklyn his junior year – purely for fun. He would run up to 20 miles, admire the scenery and talk with fellow runners he encountered on his runs.
Hyman-Cohen, unlike Krutov, was on the team last year and though only a sophomore, is already the fastest runner on the team after taking fifth place in the Mayor’s Cup Championship in the 2.5 mile race with a time of 13 minutes 51 seconds. “I didn’t run at all except for the summer before high school, during which I ran enough to get myself into decent shape.” Cohen became part of the varsity team his freshman year.
Although the team has never had trouble winning the borough championship, they lost a close race at the City Championship last year to Curtis High School. Curtis’s best runner, Keith Stapleton, graduated last year, improving Stuyvesant’s chances of winning the championship this season.
“[Mendes] planned the season so that we peak at city champs,” said Frizell. “I think we have a very good chance of winning city championships. We have an incredibly strong team this year, even compared to other years.”
“We’re working hard, but we’re working smart,” Westling said. “[We] guide the younger classmen to make sure they guys know what’s going on.”
“This is the deepest varsity seven I have ever coached. They are all committed to winning. They all work hard. It’s a pleasure to coach them,” said Mendes.
