Senior Xavier Ortiz of Chelsea competed in the New England Track and Field Championship last Saturday in New Britain, Connecticut. The weather was cool and rainy but Ortiz ran well enough in the rain to finish tenth in the 200 meters. Ortiz finished his race in a time of 23.16 seconds. He was seventeen hundreds of a second (.17) away from placing eighth and medaling at the New England’s. Ortiz who received the Most Outstanding athlete for the boy’s track team last week at their banquet had one of the most successful seasons in decades for the Red Devil’s. He’s the first athlete that I have had in six years to go to All-States and New Englands said coach Don Fay of his star sprinter. He was sixth at the Division 2 state meet, eighth at the All-State meet and tenth last Saturday.
Ortiz will be continuing his track career at UMass Boston where he will join former captains Henry Morales and Hamza Abdul who contributed mightily to the UMass track team in their first year there. Ortiz who ran only one year for Chelsea dominated the league this year in the sprints. Winning every track event he was in from the 100, 200, 400 and the 4×400 meter relay. Xavier realized this year that hard work and commitment can get you very far said Fay. I try to tell the boy’s that they also need to do that in school and in life to be successful.
Six members of the boy’s track team took part in the decathlon last week at Burlington High School. A grueling two day, ten event competition. The boy’s had two team’s competing for Chelsea High. The “A” finished fourth overall as a team out of sixteen teams. Senior Cesar Hernandez finished 13th overall out of 72 competitors. His highlights were long jumping 19 feet, triple jumping 39 feet and running 55.1 for the 400 meters. Senior captain Jon-Carlo Vega finished in 20th place and his best performances were a 54.4 in the 400 meters a 17.7 in the high hurdles and a 113 foot throw in the javelin. He also broke 5 minutes in the 1500 meter run. Sophomore Luis Hernandez (who received the Most Improved award at the team’s banquet last week) finished in 27th place. His best performances were a high jump of 5 feet 2 inches, and an 18.3 in the high hurdle.
The “B” team was led by Norbert Simon who finished in 31st place. He ran 11.7 in the 100 meters, long jumped 18 feet 9 inches ran a 56.3 in the 400 meters and high jumped a personal best of five feet six and a half inches. Santos Hernandez was 40th overall. His best performances were an 18 foot 5 inch long jump and an 18.3 in the high hurdles. Ugo Cvjetan finished in 53rd place. He ran a 4:43 1500 meter and ran the 400 meters in a time of 58.6.
Santos Hernandez, Norbert Simon and Ugo Cvjetan have all been selected as the 2011 spring track captains for the boy’s track team.