Correction Appended
The girls’ indoor track team placed first in two of the eight events at the Public School Athletics League (PSAL) City Championships on February 22. Senior Nina Yang won the 1,500 meter race walk, while fellow senior Eva Sadej won the 1,500 meter run. Junior and race walker Dan Ping He finished only .98 seconds behind Yang in the 1,500 meter race walk and obtained second place. All three members of the Stuyvesant track team are now eligible to compete in the State Championships on March 8 at Barton Hall, Cornell University.
Before the City Championships, there were the Borough Championships on February 17 that determined which track team members would qualify for the City Championships. Six race walkers and one runner qualified for this event. The race walkers included seniors Yang and Hui Li Zhu, and juniors Liwei Mao, Lena Chen and He. Eva Sadej was the only runner to qualify for Cities.
Eva Sadej, who is the City Champion for the 1,500 meter run, had an odd introduction to track. “I liked Nina Yang’s track clothes, and I decided to join.” That decision changed her high school life. She now has a private coach and practices six days a week. “It’s demanding but it balances itself out by being rewarding and fun,” she said.
The competitiveness at the Cities this season was remarkably higher than last season, when the city champion of the 1,500 meter run won with a time of 5:00 minutes. This year, five girls finished the run in less than five minutes. It was so close that Tottenville High School junior Victori Pontecorvo, who took second place, lost by less then one second. The total difference in time between the first place runner (Sadej) and the fifth place runner (junior Shannon Browne from Curtis High School) was little more then six seconds. “Somebody is always a second behind you,” Sadej said.
The new city champion of the 1,500 meter run claimed to feel confident as the State Championships approach. “I heavily research my opponents. I could place as good as fourth [in the State Championships],” Sadej said.
Correction:
In “Stuyvesant Places Third in Boroughs, Sadej and Yang Win City Championship Titles,” Victoria Pontecorvo’s first name was misspelled.
