Following a 54-45 win against Tottenville High School in the quarterfinals, the Penguins, the girls’ swimming team, defeated Curtis, 55-43, in the semifinals of the city playoffs on Tuesday, November 6 at Long Island City High School.
Seeded second in the playoffs, the Penguins took the lead right from the beginning when they placed first and second in the 200-yard medley relay. Stuyvesant won five of the 12 events held and placed second in eight events. “Curtis is a hard team to beat. Our girls stepped up. They swam hard and knew what they had to do,” Penguins’ coach Leonard M. De Virgilio said.
The Penguins will face top-seeded Townsend Harris High School in the championship meet on Tuesday, November 20 at New York University. Townsend Harris defeated Bronx Science, 62-39, in the other semifinal. “Townsend Harris is a very fast team with a lot of depth,” senior Brittany Bishop said. “We’re going to have to get faster and we’re also going to have to get into the mindset of pulling off times that we’ve never done before.”
With two weeks until the finals, the Penguins are going to be “working hard, working harder and working harder than that,” De Virgilio said.