PSAL Girl’s Swimming and Diving Championship
BTHS Sports, Features, Tech News — By Andy Mai on December 1, 2009 at 10:19 pmReported by Andy Mai
Photos by Andy Mai
Editor: Chiyeung Lau
On November 24th, 2009, Brooklyn Tech’s very own Girl’s Swim Team took on Stuyvesant High School in the PSAL Girls Swimming and Diving Championship at Lehman College. This was the first time in almost 20 years that Tech’s girl’s swim team had made it to the finals. Stuyvesant was last year’s defending champions. This particular event was heavily advertised by members on the swim team and BTHSnews had encouraged Tech students to attend the meet to cheering on the girls.
The ride to the Bronx was long but worth it. As soon as I entered Lehman College I knew it was going to be an amazing meet. With much media attention on this meet (MSG) there was no room for disappointment. I knew I was going to enjoy it. The bleachers were already packed with students and alumni of Brooklyn Tech when I arrived. The energy radiating from the crowd was intense. It was like a home game for the Tech swimmers except better.
Both teams went off exchanging battle cries and the match was on. Brooklyn Tech took the first event with a 1st and 4th place finish to take an early lead but Stuyvesant would bounce back. During the medley relay, the crowd went into chanting, “TECH RE-LAY!” It was a very inspirational scene to see students supporting other students. But after 3 events, Stuyvesant had a slim lead going into the diving portion of the meet. Here is where Stuyvesant had the advantage, because Stuyvesant had 2 good divers and Brooklyn Tech lacked any divers, Stuyvesant was able to gain free points in this event. It was painful for Brooklyn Tech supporters to watch helplessly as the girls from the Stuyvesant team made their dives with no challenge. Brooklyn Tech would have to stage a comeback at this point.
It was valiant effort by the Tech girls but when the second to last event was over, Stuyvesant had clinched the championship score-wise. The final was a 59-42 victory by Stuyvesant.
But what I saw more important than winning the meet was the support. The crowd was composed of more than 75% Brooklyn Tech students. I was very proud to be in the crowd cheering on the Tech girls as we faced our rival, Stuyvesant. If we get students more motivated to go to school sporting events, this could be the start of greater school spirit here at Brooklyn Tech!
Replies from the forums:
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Could it possibly be that Tech had no divers at the championship because Tech does not have a diving board in its pool. A few years ago as I took a tour of Tech on Alumni Day, the tour was told that the ceiling was too low to allow a diving board to be used in the pool. I would like to see proof of that. There should be on file in the custodian's office documentation from the NYC Building's Department as to the minimum height from the board to the ceiling. Now it is a statement of fact that when I went to Tech in the 1950's,we had divers and we also won the city championship.Perhaps the Survey's staff can check out the law concerning the minimum height the board has to be from the ceiling.
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Boys Tech Swim team has diving. The Tech pool has been out of use since last summer. To dive you need at least 9 feet of water, for a diving board more, Tech pool is 9 feet max. Swim meets happen in other high schools, that have pools. The Tech pool leaks so it has no water in it. Also we probably have low ceiling in the basement.
FYI, the pool was originally at least 8 feet deep to i think 14. But the pool had to be redone many times.
Tech Boys diving is done at schools like Fort, that is where the swim team practices now.
Source: Many friends on the Swim Team, 3 terms of swim gym in Brooklyn Tech,
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mband1959, on , said:
Could it possibly be that Tech had no divers at the championship because Tech does not have a diving board in its pool. A few years ago as I took a tour of Tech on Alumni Day, the tour was told that the ceiling was too low to allow a diving board to be used in the pool. I would like to see proof of that. There should be on file in the custodian's office documentation from the NYC Building's Department as to the minimum height from the board to the ceiling. Now it is a statement of fact that when I went to Tech in the 1950's,we had divers and we also won the city championship.Perhaps the Survey's staff can check out the law concerning the minimum height the board has to be from the ceiling.
There is a diver for the girls but she was not trained and ready by then.
The boys have Senior, Allen Faberov and Junior, Karol Drozdzal. They were both great on Friday as they went against Leon M. Goldstein at the Fort Hamilton pool.
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NickC, on , said:
There is a diver for the girls but she was not trained and ready by then.
The boys have Senior, Allen Faberov and Junior, Karol Drozdzal. They were both great on Friday as they went against Leon M. Goldstein at the Fort Hamilton pool.
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I was not aware that the whole Tech pool was out of service. This certainly adds to the extraordinary feat of the team to go as far as it did in the playoffs with such a handicap. I wonder if any NYC high schoool swimming team ever did as well as Tech without the use of a home swimming pool. I wonder if LIU down the block has a swimming pool and if so could make it available to our team. I also wonder how long it will take to repair the pool so that it can once again be part of the physical edu. program.
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mband1959, on , said:
I was not aware that the whole Tech pool was out of service. This certainly adds to the extraordinary feat of the team to go as far as it did in the playoffs with such a handicap. I wonder if any NYC high schoool swimming team ever did as well as Tech without the use of a home swimming pool. I wonder if LIU down the block has a swimming pool and if so could make it available to our team. I also wonder how long it will take to repair the pool so that it can once again be part of the physical edu. program.
The Girls (and guys now) have to go to Fort Hamilton to practice and if their pool isn't available they need to do dry land practice which consists of running on the indoor track.
LIU doesn't have a pool at the Brooklyn Campus but I believe the CW Post Campus has one.
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Reported by Andy Mai
Photos by Andy Mai
On November 24th, 2009, Brooklyn TechâÃÂÃÂs very own GirlâÃÂÃÂs Swim Team took on Stuyvesant High School in the PSAL Girls Swimming and Diving Championship at Lehman College. This was the first time in almost 20 years that TechâÃÂÃÂs girlâÃÂÃÂs swim team had made it to the finals. Stuyvesant was last yearâÃÂÃÂs defending champions. This particular event was heavily advertised by members on the swim team and BTHSnews had encouraged Tech students to attend the meet to cheering on the girls.
The ride to the Bronx was long but worth it. As soon as I entered Lehman College I knew it was going to be an amazing meet. With much media attention on this meet (MSG) there was no room for disappointment. I knew I was going to enjoy it. The bleachers were already packed with students and alumni of Brooklyn Tech when I arrived. The energy radiating from the crowd was intense. It was like a home game for the Tech swimmers except better.
Both teams went off exchanging battle cries and the match was on. Brooklyn Tech took the first event with a 1st and 4th place finish to take an early lead but Stuyvesant would bounce back. During the medley relay, the crowd went into chanting, âÃÂÃÂTECH RE-LAY!âÃÂàIt was a very inspirational scene to see students supporting other students. But after 3 events, Stuyvesant had a slim lead going into the diving portion of the meet. Here is where Stuyvesant had the advantage, because Stuyvesant had 2 good divers and Brooklyn Tech lacked any divers, Stuyvesant was able to gain free points in this event. It was painful for Brooklyn Tech supporters to watch helplessly as the girls from the Stuyvesant team made their dives with no challenge. Brooklyn Tech would have to stage a comeback at this point.
It was valiant effort by the Tech girls but when the second to last event was over, Stuyvesant had clinched the championship score-wise. The final was a 59-42 victory by Stuyvesant.
But what I saw more important than winning the meet was the support. The crowd was composed of more than 75% Brooklyn Tech students. I was very proud to be in the crowd cheering on the Tech girls as we faced our rival, Stuyvesant. If we get students more motivated to go to school sporting events, this could be the start of greater school spirit here at Brooklyn Tech!
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