February 17, 2017
The Spectator SpoRts
Wrestling
Spartans Finish Strong
Courtesy of Adam Belkebir
Senior Adam Belkebir (120 lbs) in a tie up against a Petrides High School opponent.
By CELINA LIU
and Jeremy Rubin
Stuyvesant Spartans senior
and co-captain Cade Lueker cir-
cles the wrestling mat, eyeing his
opponent, senior Feras Zedeia of
William C. Bryant High School.
With first place in the city on the
line for the 170-weight class, they
exchange a few quick taps to the
head, when suddenly Zedeia
strikes, locking their arms, and
brings Lueker down, giving him-
self a 2-0 advantage.
With seconds left in the first
round, Lueker fights back and ties
it up 2-2. After the second round,
its still even at 4-4. Soon after, the
referee blows his whistle to sig-
nal the start of the third and final
round, Zedeia manages to pin Lu-
eker down, making the score 6-4.
With seven seconds left, Lueker
makes a desperate lunge at Zede-
ia, gaining a point in the process.
However, thats all he gets, as the
final whistle signals the end of the
match, 6-5 Zedeia.
Lueker silently takes off his
helmet and shakes hands with
Zedeia and the Bryant coaches
before making his way to his par-
ents and Spartans coach Michael
Cigala.
Even though he came in sec-
ond, his placement is a major ac-
complishment. [Stuyvesant] has
Boys Basketball
Runnin Rebels End Season
with Playoff Hopes on the Line
By Tahsin Ali
and Ariel Melendez
On February 7, the Runnin
Rebels, Stuyvesants varsity boys
basketball team, were one win
away from clinching their first
playoff berth in three years as
they took on the Norman Thomas
Tigers. Coming off a tough loss
against Hunter, the team had only
two games left to clinch a playoff
spot. With their last game of the
season against a strong Murry
Bergtraum team, the Rebels had a
win-now mentality facing the 0-14
Norman Thomas team. We knew
it was a must-win and felt cau-
tiously confident. We had beaten
them earlier in the season by 24,
but we knew they would give us
a much better fight this time. We
were nervous, but also excited,
to do something none of us had
a lot of work, and [students dont]
have the most time to train, Lu-
eker said. Last year, I was out be-
cause I hurt my back, but getting
better and training over the sum-
mer and getting ready for this sea-
son helped me a lot, Lueker said.
Cigala, while disappointed
that Lueker had lost the match,
thought that the team was phe-
nomenal overall. Our younger
guys won a lot of matches 170
[weight division] is one of the best
in the city, and Lueker had come
out and won four other matches
before this, [] were happy, Ci-
gala said. Were a pretty young
team with a lot of sophomores and
juniors, and theyll be juniors and
seniors next year, so were looking
forward to competing again next
year.
Senior and co-captain Valerie
Leung, one of the two girls on the
team, competes with the boys
team because Stuyvesant does not
have a girls wrestling team. Even
though she is facing off against
boys, she loves the sport. Wres-
tling is definitely one of the most
challenging and time consuming
sports but I love it, Leung said.
Her dedication to the sport is what
coaches want in their wrestlers.
The first day of city champion-
ships was tough for the rest of the
Spartans who competed, includ-
ing junior Adam Abbas and junior
done in our time at Stuy, make the
playoffs, senior and co-captain
Tobias Lange said.
The team knew the impor-
tance of this game and showed it
in their play. Going into the Nor-
man Thomas game, we had just
come off a tough loss against a
team we should have beaten, and
basically, we werent going to let
that happen again. We had high
intensity and were focused on
what we needed to do, senior and
co-captain Michael Feinberg said.
From the opening minutes of the
game, the team played strong de-
fense, forcing Norman Thomas to
take many contested shots. De-
spite the absence of senior point
guard Angelo Jud Yu due to injury,
junior Sean Chung made the most
of his starting spot, running the
offense and creating shots for his
teammates. Of these teammates
Page 24
CALENDAR
February
17 Friday
19
Boys Gymnastics
Home
Sunday
Boys and Girls
Indoor Track: PSAL
City Championships
28
Armory Track
Allard Peng. Abbas went 0-2 but
lost very marginally in his second
match. Peng was forced to forfeit
his matches after suffering a con-
cussion.
Sunday
For Abbas, even with the dis-
appointing first day, the future Boys Basketball vs.
of the Spartans is looking bright. TBD, First Round
Though it was his first year wres-
tling for Stuyvesant, he was suc- of Playoffs
cessful enough to make it to the
city championships. Unfortunate-
TBD
ly, he went 0-2 the first day, but
hes using his newfound knowl-
edge of the sport to set goals for
next year.
MARCH
Abbas thought his weaknesses
during the season were his tech-
1
nique and lack of experience.
Wrestling isnt a sport you can
master instantly, Abbas said. He
is looking forward to working a
lot on his technique and learning
new strategies during the off-sea-
son. Im going to have a lot more
motivation [next year], consider-
ing its my last, and I know how Wednesday
good it feels to do well.
We train 12 months out of the
year. Were ready to go into our off- Junior Varsity Boys
season program and our weight-
training program, said Cigala.
Basketball vs. West
50th Street Campus
5
The Spartans are only losing six
seniors out of the 23 on their cur-
rent roster. The team will, for the High School
most part, be unchanged for the
next season and will again look to
West 50th Street H.S.
compete at a high level.
Sunday
Boys and Girls In-
door Track: Fresh-
man/Sophomore City
was Lange, who had the hot hand Championships
from the opening minutes of the
game. Averaging 14.63 points per Armory Track
game on the season, Lange proved
a helpful factor in the teams suc-
cess.
The Rebels dominance con-
tinued in the second quarter as
they outscored Norman Thomas
21-7. Coming into the game, the
Rebels knew that Norman Thom-
WRAPUP
as had a strong offensive playing
style. They were led by senior Em-
manuel Mayfield, who is third in
the city in points per game. We After defeating LaGuardia High School on February 14 by a
knew they were going to shoot a score of 41-27 in the first round of the playoffs, the Phoenix,
lot, so we adjusted our zones. We STUYVESANTS GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM, ended their
knew he [Mayfield] was going to season in the second round in a 59-28 loss to Bayside High
score, but we couldnt let him beat School the following day.
us single handedly, Lange said.
continued on page 23