2016 NY Boys XC Preview: PSAL

The PSAL is always a senior-dominated conference that has much of the XC population leaving at the end of June, but this year four of the top 6 finishers from last year's championship are back. The list of returnerrs for this year's top guys is much stronger than the group that returned for 2015, and it is led by Stuyvesant's Kiyan Tavangar who was a close 2nd to last year's winner John Akakeya of Curtis. Conversely, all of the top teams besides Tavangar's reigning champ Stuyvesant squad are running well behind last year's group entering the preseason, so there appears to be a lot less depth in the PSAL field for 2016. Each year brings a lot of surprises as a whole new group of runners are developed, and the PSAL is notoriously hard to project for.

With five guys headed by Tavangar and 20th-place finisher Harvey Ng back from last year's champion squad, Stuyvesant appears to have a huge margin over the rest of the teams whose lineups were heavily pared down by graduation. No other top contender has two guys returning from the top 25 of last year's championship, and 2014 winner Brooklyn Tech may have the second strongest PSAL team simply because it appears to have the next biggest mid-sized pack. Last year's 2nd- place team Midwood is ways back in the projections this year because it is hard to find a back part of the lineup for the Hornets, but they do have the next strongest top two with Demian Lofsnes Scott and Brandon Tingle.

Stuyvesant's Tavangar has the edge for the PSAL individual title this year, but Port Richmond's Brandon Romero kicked home 3rd last year, and McKee Tech's Oadhan Lynch and Townsend Harris's Muhamad Bicic finished 5th and 6th, so the top Pegleg could have some company around the Tortoise and Hare spot at the end of this year's championship.