HSMSE's Best Track and Field Athletes Face Off In The City Championships

HSMSE’s Indoor Track and Field team competed Saturday, February 22nd at the 2020 PSAL City Championships at the Armory in Washington Heights. At the meet, HSMSE’s boys’ and girls’ teams placed 12th and 21st respectively in the city.

This marks a season-ending event for the HSMSE Flying Dragons in which their star players’ skills were displayed on the city’s greatest stage. Thirteen HSMSE athletes competed in a total of six events against other top schools in the city.

Among the most significant performers in the City Championship was junior Whralston Anderson. He finished second in the triple jump with a distance of 42-5 ½, beating his previous school record by two feet.

Additionally, Anderson tied for second with a 5’-8” high jump. His performances were the Flying Dragons' only top-three finishes in the meet. His triple jump score made him the only HSMSE athlete who qualified for this year’s state meet.

Also, the girls’ pole vaulting team had an outstanding performance. In the event, junior Sophie Levine earned fourth place with a height of seven-feet and eight-inches. Additionally, sophomore Lara Bernard and freshman Penelope Larkin tied for fifth, both with a height of seven-feet and two-inches.

According to coach Thomas Henning, the key to his athletes' success was perseverance and consistency. He believes their stellar performances weren’t anything out of the ordinary; it was the outcome of hard work and commitment.

“People did very much as I expected,” he said.

He also noted sophomore Jillian Darcy’s improvement, who managed to qualify for the city championships for her incredible endurance as a runner. At the meet, she placed 11th in the 3000 meter run with a time of 11:42.67, a minute and nine seconds behind first place.

“She did very well at the end of the season,” he said.

The team's accomplishments have led their school to a new athletic frontier. There is no doubt that the Flying Dragons' boasting multiple medalists was even more impressive with less than 500 students in their school's population. The team looks for an even brighter future next season, with a plan to recruit even more potential champions and train harder than ever before.

- Luis Andino also contributed to this article. 

The HSMSE Girls Basketball Team Overcomes Injuries In A Historic Season

The HSMSE Girls basketball team made it to the first round of the 2020 PSAL “B” Division Playoffs after finishing second place in their division. The Dragons maintained a 9-3 record, all while losing two valuable players during the season.

The Dragons were a resilient team, so giving up was not an option. Losing players due to injury did not demoralize the team, in fact, it boosted team morale. They had to play harder in support of their sidelined teammates.

“It gave everyone an opportunity to step up and support their teammates,” coach David Scheiman said.

Before a pre-season scrimmage, starting center Nicole Ogen broke a finger during warm-ups. The Dragons lost another starter midway through the season when shooting guard Barbara Ceci broke her ankle during the first quarter of a league game. Less experienced players stepped up and helped the Dragons take victory.

“[The injuries] makes everyone work harder because everyone wants to come through for that person and win,” junior point guard Agnes Heffner said.

Following the injuries, sophomores Sandy Liang and Taylor Jeffrey filled starting positions, while freshmen Sherry Li and Lily Yan earned more playing time. The Dragons’ ability to deal with adversity sets them up for a strong upcoming season, as their younger players gained valuable experience that will help the team in the future.

- Siddhaarta Venkatesh also contributed to this story.

HSMSE sends most qualifiers for city track championships in school history

HSMSE’s Boys Outdoor Track team had six qualifiers for the first time in school history for the City Championships that took place on May 28th. These six qualifiers have shown the diversity of the strengths of the track team.

There were three qualifiers in the pole vault event. Juniors Bryan Medina, Brandon Fajardo, and sophomore Owen Gao all made the cut for the championships. Coach Henning’s rigorous training and athletic development of these qualifiers has allowed for such a feat to be possible this spring season. The past seniors mentoring allowed city qualifiers such as Medina to improve tremendously.

“I continually and consistently go to practice and [give] my all during each practice, research, and ask more experienced sprinters for advice,” Medina said in a 2017 interview. “My fellow pole vaulters including Michael Proudnikov, a now graduated pole vaulter, were a big help in improving my skills and helping me persevere during long practices.”

The help the teammates provided each other was pivotal to the success of these different qualifiers. This support was evident to coach Henning as he watched the athletes mature.

“I think the natural progression in any athletic program, you will have people who were successful one year, who help inspire, teach and encourage the younger athletes,” Henning said. “Those younger athletes become older, they inspire others. So each year, we have had more and more experienced people and therefore more qualifiers.”

Henning also referred to Proudnikov as good example of mature athletes assisting their teammates in practice. Henning attributed him as one of the major factors in improving for the pole vaulters improvement.

“For example, Michael Proudnikov was the one pole vaulter we had last year,” Henning said. “He taught four other guys, and now we have more three qualifiers in the pole vaulting event.”

The two other events the track team qualified for was the high jump event and the 110 meter hurdles event. Both Miles Greenblatt and Danny Gong qualified for the high jump, and senior Bin Zhang qualified for the 110 meter hurdles.

Zhang has been running the 110 meter hurdles for three years. He is a perfect example of hard work culminating in a rewarding fashion, as he qualified for the City Championships in his final season. He attributes his accomplishment to the assistance he has received from fellow runners throughout the four years.

“The major factor was friends,” he said, “they pushed me to push myself at every given chance. One specific friend was Anand [Karmaker] who always stayed by my side; he pushed me to go to gym and that allowed me to push my limits.”

Fajardo was the only qualifier that won a medal. Fajardo came in 5th for the pole vault event, vaulting at a height of 11 feet. Henning described the field as very harsh due to the disadvantages of being in a small school without as many resources as other schools.

“We are competing different schools who have track in their back, with bigger teams, and more coaches, so it’s a tough competition,” Henning said.

Authored by Erick Romero and Anamul Hoque

The HSMSE outdoor track big three

Coach Tom Henning with the three qualifiers/ T Henning

The High School Math Science Engineering Boys' Track Team had three qualifiers for the 2015 PSAL City Championship, Austin Carvey, Wayne Chim, and Lucian Ramnarase. The PSAL City Championship puts the best runners throughout the city on display.

The Dragons are excited to qualify for the city championship. The boys  practiced throughout the season to prepare for huge events like this. This is the first time in HSMSE’s two years as a varsity track team that students have qualified for the city championship. Chim qualified in the long jump with an impressive jump of 19'1". Carvey qualified in the 400 IH in 59.5 seconds. Ramnarase’s 4:42 time in the 1600 meter run also earned him a spot in the finals. The boys were close in qualifying in the previous season, which motivated them to improve this year.

“I was really close in qualifying last year, so I was really excited when I qualified," Carvey said

These athletes are competing with the best in the city in their respective categories. Mentally they are going to have to be ready for their toughest challenge this track season. The runners will hope to put on a good showing at the event while representing their school.

“I don’t really think about the race till the night before," Carvey said. "I am a bit nervous knowing that I am competing against the best runners in the city.”

Lone varsity runner on the HSMSE girls' track team

Michelle Lee / Tom Henning

The HSMSE girls' outdoor track team has six members, but only has one varsity runner, junior Michelle Lee. She inherited a leadership role because she is the oldest and the most experienced runner on the team.

Lee did not participate in relays like her underclassmen teammates, and ran only individual races due to her status as the only varsity runner. Even though she did not run with them in the races, she still influenced the younger runners to perform their best. Lee embraced her front runner role by staying positive and setting an example to her younger teammates.

“What I try to do is through all the workouts I just give my all,” Lee said. “If they [the team] see that I’m actually putting in the effort, I want them to be motivated by that.”

This season, Lee ran exceptionally well in the 400 meter intermediate hurdles finishing third in the Manhattan Borough Championships with her best time at 1 minute and 16.6 seconds. Despite a great effort, Lee fell short of reaching the City Championships this season. She has one main goal for next season.

"I would like to make it to City Championships for the girls 400 meter intermediate hurdles [next season]," she said.

Her success gives the team a competitive edge; however, Lee cannot individually run for a whole team.

“We have a really strong freshman relay team right now” she said. “There is one other sophomore, Samantha Chan, and she’s also a really good long jumper and short distance runner. In general we have a very promising team.”

Next season Lee will be joined by Chan on varsity. While they do not have the numbers for a relay team, Lee will no longer have a journey of solitude in girls' varsity track.

The sucess of the 2014 Flying Dragons

Lucian Ramnarase / T. Henning

The HSMSE Cross Country team has developed into one of the 20 elite Cross Country teams in the New York City area. The team reached the PSAL Cross Country City Championship of 2014; their success was greatly attributed to their ambition and focus on high paced running.

Coach Tom Henning prides himself on his recruiting skills and applauds the student athletes for their drive to be faster runners.

“I think we’ve been successful because MSE students work hard in anything that they do,” Henning said. “I’ve been very persistent in recruiting students.”

One prime example of an MSE student working hard is varsity runner Lucian Ramnarase. Ramnarase had a breakout season this year, finishing in 39th place out of about 200 other runners in the City Championships,  well above most of his fellow Flying Dragons.

Henning believes the success of his team is also due to coaching changes he made this season. Instead of increasing the mileage the runners run each week, he reduced the miles ran each week in order to develop faster runners instead of slower runners.

“I think I focused on more fast running, more high paced running with rest in between; I certainly took that from my track and field training,” Henning said.

Henning’s unorthodox quality over quantity approach has led to a team that reached the PSAL Cross Country City Championships for the first time. The accolades the team earned in the past year was a result of the enthusiasm the runners had, and the different approaches Henning used this past season in contrast to other great Cross Country teams.

                                          Authors: Bruce Mayfield, Harry Smith

The Flying Dragons' road to victory

After three years of being denied by the PSAL, this coming fall season will be the first appearance by HSMSE’s cross country team in the league. The Flying Dragons are planning to surprise the other competing teams. Thomas Henning, their coach, has great confidence in his team and knows they are going to go far. Henning said in an interview, “Nobody knows who we are so when we run, we are going to win and win.”

Henning is excited about his team finally being able to compete in the PSAL. The team’s first PSAL race starts in late September. The PSAL competition consists of ten races with teams from all five boroughs competing against each other for the championship. After asking Henning about his thoughts on the team’s first appearance in the PSAL, Henning replied, “It’s very exciting because we will be able to do ten races.”

Just like their coach, the Flying Dragons are looking forward to their first meet in fall. They will start preparing for this competition on the 20th of August. They will be doing drills and workouts such as long distance sprints, running up hills, and multiple mile runs four to five times a week. Sophomore Mathew Brown, one of the runners from the Flying Dragons who ran for two seasons gave his opinion on the drills and workouts, “It’s not fun, but I know it will help me improve.” These drills and workouts will turn out to help them in the future.

This will be an exciting season for the Flying Dragons. With their heads high, they will march towards victory. However, they do not expect for everyone on the team to win. Henning explained, ”You’re not trying to be first, you’re trying to be better.” The Flying Dragons want to win, but the top priority for them is to make themselves better. They are confident and training hard to get far in competition. They know that their hard work will pay off. This is a new era for the Flying dragons. The excitement within the team increases each day as the first PSAL meet gets closer.

High School for Math Science and Engineering Cross Country Team Participates In the Manhattan College Cross Country Race

HSMSE Flying Dragons / Tom Henning

The HSMSE Flying Dragons took a run at the Manhattan College Cross Country Race held in Van Cortlandt Park, on October 11th, 2011. Thousands of runners across the country participated in this race. The Flying Dragons ran without stress because what mattered to them was improvement, not their place.

The race went well with Matthew Brown having the fastest time on the team with a pace of 6:23 and an ending time of 15:58 on a 2.5 mile run. He finished 137th out of the thousands of competitors. Kleant Daci and Patrick Nolan also had quick times with both having the same pace of 6:48 and an ending time of 16:59 and 17:00 with Nolan beating him by a second on a 2.5 mile race.

The runners practiced 5 days a week with one day off allowed during the weekdays. They ran both long distances and short distances with a fast pace. They did hillwork and time trials to improve their pace. “We are like brothers and sisters. We push each other and give motivation. We are like a big loving family,” Kleant Daci said.

The team was happy with their placements. Their place in the race did not matter; however, what mattered the most was finishing the race and showing some sort of improvement. "[We] mainly focus on improvement and then position," said Daci.

Flying Dragons  begin their race / Tom Hennin

Contributed by: Prince Lam-moise and Tithi Chowdhury