The Chelsea High boys track team was set to open its season this week, facing Mystic Valley this past Tuesday and then taking on Greater Lowell today (Thursday).
Coach Don Fay’s Red Devils competed against Everett in a scrimmage meet last Friday in which a number of the Chelsea tracksters turned in fine performances.
CHS captain Jeffrey Estrada and Ricky Maldonado both captured two events and took second in another to tally 13 points apiece for the Red Devil cause. Estrada won the 400 hurdles in a time of 65.5 seconds and the mile with a clocking of 5:22. He also took second in the triple jump with a distance of 34′-4″.
Maldonado won the javelin with a throw of 131′-2″ and the high jump with a leap of 5′-9″. Ricky also took second place in the 400 meters in 56.8.
Other first place finishers for Chelsea were Haidar Kareem in the 110 high hurdles in 21.1 and Mohamed Qasim in the triple jump at 34’11”. Mohamed also placed third in the 200 meter dash in 26.2.
Eric Flores took second place in three events to place nine points onto the CHS side of the scoresheet: the 400 hurdles in 72.9, the 110 high hurdles in 21.3, and the high jump with a leap of 5′-2″.
Christian Calix grabbed second in the javelin with a toss of 108′-2″ and Chris Sanyet took second in the 100 dash in 12.3. Dominick Vega added a point with a third in the javelin with his throw of 102′ and captain Marcone Corrone took third in the 400 meter dash in 58.7.
CHS baseball team drops opening contests
The Chelsea High baseball team opened its season last week and came out on the short end of its two contests with Greater Lawrence last Thursday and Northeast Regional on Friday.
In the season-opener with Greater Lawrence, the Red Devils carried a 2-1 lead through four frames. Carlos Ramos earned the distinction of scoring the first Chelsea run of the season when he walked, stole second, and came home on a double by Orlando Rodriguez.
After Greater Lawrence tied the game with a marker in the third, the Red Devils regained the lead with a solo tally in the bottom of the inning. Yvad Rosado singled, moved to second on a passed ball, and then scored on an error by the G.L third baseman on a ball hit by Carlos Vega.
However, Greater Lawrence exploded for seven runs in the top of the fifth to break the game open and move out to an 8-2 lead. Four hits, three walks, and a hit batter provided the run production for the visitors.
Chelsea chipped away at the G.L. lead with a pair of runs in the sixth thanks to a double by Luis Rodriguez that delivered teammates Armando Montes (who had singled) and Carlos Vega (who had walked).
After Greater Lawrence scored a run in the top of the seventh, Chelsea struck for two runs in the bottom of the inning, with George Hernandez and Yvad Rosado scoring and Montes coming through with an RBI base hit. But that would prove to be as close as the Red Devils would get and the final score showed a 9-6 G.L. victory.
“That one bad inning really did us in,” said CHS head coach Alan Beausoleil. “But to our credit, we continued to play hard and put some runs up on the board to make it close. We had two runners on and the tying run at the plate before the game ended.”
The following day in their contest with Northeast Regional, the Red Devils managed just one hit, a single by Carlos Vega, in an 11-0 blanking.
Beausoleil and his Red Devil crew will play tonight (Thursday) against Mystic Valley under the lights at Malden Catholic’s field and will host North Shore Tech tomorrow. Chelsea will entertain East Boston Tuesday and trek to Lynn Tech next Thursday.