“S-C-S-C-I-S-C-I-E-N-C-E! Let’s go SCIENCE!,” the athletes cheered in unison. Pumped with adrenaline after an outstanding win, the Girls’ Varsity Indoor Track team jumped up and down and chanted their team cheer as PSAL officials handed the gold plaque to Bronx Science—naming the team the Indoor Bronx Borough Champions for the third time in a row. 

 Having won the Borough Championships, the girls’ team made their way onwards. “It was amazing when Bronx Science came in third at cities (PSAL Championship). We weren’t even expecting to place, and it was our school’s best finish in twenty years,” said Zoë Cooper ’20. 

The girls were up and running at the Bronx Boroughs, dominating the race with a winning total of 237 points. “Being a sprinter in the shortest races of track and field is stressful, because there is no opportunity to fix mistakes. This year’s season of sprinting and hurdling has taught me to interpret these feelings [of flight or fight], and turn them into preparations to fight,” said Diana Campbell ’22

“My coaching goal is simple — that we are competitive no matter what. My job is to get them prepared. And in return, I hope that each girl gives her very best,” said Coach Marlene Payton, who has coached for the girls’ team for the past four years.  

Captain of the girls’ team for two consecutive years and an ambitious track athlete since middle school, Issabella Huynh ’20 has always reached for the stars. To mark her last year racing in indoor track, she soared an extraordinary record height of ten feet in pole vault. “This was my final year competing indoors as a Wolverine. It was really amazing to see my underclassmen rise to the occasion to score points and PR [term for improving one’s sports performance], even breaking school records,” said Huynh. “Our underclassmen have lots of potential, and I am assured that our legacy as borough champions will be sustained,” said Jane Yoo ’20, a racewalker on the team who scored first place at boroughs. 

This year, the team was composed of fifty-six athletes, which included an addition of fourteen new team members. “I think our team’s strongest asset is that we all really believe in each other (sometimes more than we believe in ourselves),” said Cooper. “Everyone on the team is really supportive of each other,” said Rosemary Newman ’23 and Elizabeth Newman ’23, both qualified for cities. The girls support each other in ways more than cheering on the side, such as baking cookies. “Ever since I first made them [marshmallow cookies], people ask me in advance, or usually at the start of a season, if I’m going to make my cookies,” said Chin Wei Chan ’20. “It’s not easy baking sixty cookies, but I would say it’s worth it since the team enjoys them.”

Crowned for the third time, the team continues to run together towards victory down the track, breaking records left and right. 

“My coaching goal is simple — that we are competitive no matter what. My job is to get them prepared. And in return, I hope that each girl gives her very best,” said Coach Marlene Payton, who has coached for the girls’ team for the past four years.