Correction Appended
Although they didn’t make the playoffs, the Spartans, Stuyvesant’s varsity wrestling team, got a chance to compete at the Public Schools Athletic League New York City Individual Wrestling Championships and Division One State Qualifiers. The tournament was held at Petrides High School in Staten Island on Saturday, February 16 and Sunday, February 17. Each wrestler competed independently from his/her high school team for the chance to represent the city in the State Tournament, which is to be held on March 8 and 9. The top three wrestlers from each of the 15 weight classes gained entry into the state tournament. No Spartan qualified.
The event was seen as a learning experience by some members of the Spartans. Junior William Poon said the Individual Championships were “the place to be to pick up a couple of [new] moves.” Though Poon didn’t compete due to injury, he attended the tournament to cheer on his teammates. Several other Spartans who were injured did not participate in the event, including co-captain and senior Chris Stair and senior Jeffrey Liaw. The other captain of the team, senior Dawood Din, didn’t qualify for his weight class at the day of the tournament and was unable to participate.
In order to qualify for the Individual Championships, wrestlers must have competed in at least six regular season matches. The event was held in a tournament style, with preliminary rounds on the 16th and semifinals and finals on the 17th.
Out of those who competed, seniors Kelvin Chen, Henry Cham, Randy Narine and junior Madar Laffir all lost their first matches. In their second matches, they either lost or forfeited due to injury. Junior Shayanta Hasnat, who wrestles in the 125 pound weight class, lost his first match as well, but won his second and third. He was the only Stuyvesant wrestler to win a match.
Hasnat’s first match was lost to Victor Maldonado of Grand Street Campus High School, who ended up in second place for his weight class, by a score of 12-5. Despite his defeat, Hasnat is pleased with his performance and is optimistic for Stuyvesant’s future success at this event. “Though I lost, it was mostly due to my own mistakes and in the end, neither of us were able to pin the other,” Hasnat said. “The best wrestlers at the tournament were all at a level which wrestlers on our team are already on or are completely capable of reaching.”
The city champions for this year’s wrestling season are from Petrides High School. Several of them will go on to compete in the state tournament.
Although they did not make the city championships, the Spartans have improved immensely from previous years. They had a 7-3 record in the regular season—a complete turnaround from the 3-7 record they posted in 2007. “Our season as a whole was pretty successful. I think I improved a lot since the beginning of this season”, Hasnat said. “We have a lot of promising new wrestlers on the team this year who show the work ethic required to become a great wrestler, so I’m not too worried about next year’s season, but we will have to train hard for most of the year to become a truly great team.”
Correction:
The byline for the article “Spartans Optimistic Despite Missing Playoffs” was incorrect; it was written by Howard Lam.