CHS Boys Basketball Tops Somerville, 55–46
The Chelsea High boys basketball team gift-wrapped an early Christmas present for their new head coach, Cesar Castro, with a 55-46 victory at Greater Boston League (GBL) rival Somerville this past Tuesday evening, marking the first win for Castro in his head-coaching career.
The Red Devils were led in the scoring department by freshmen JJ Williams, who popped in a game-high 17 points, and Abdi Mohammed, who also reached double-figures with 14 points.
“It was the first win of the season and also the first win of my career,” noted Castro. “I just want to thank my amazing coaching staff for all the hard work that they do.
“I’m extremely proud of the team,” Castro continued. “My student-athletes play tough and with a lot of heart from start to finish every game. It can be anyone’s night — we are not big on the stats. With being a small team, we take pride in defense. I remind them everyday that we have to play scrappy and get every 50/50 ball. It was a great team effort from all our guys.”
Castro and his crew are scheduled to be back in action next Tuesday, December 27, in the 2nd Annual Jack Fletcher Holiday Classic at Lowell Catholic against Rancho Solano High School (Arizona) in the first round at 5 p.m. Lowell Catholic and Waltham are on the other side of the bracket. The championship/consolation games will be on the 29th.
CHS Boys Track Opens Season With Win Over LE
The Chelsea High boys indoor track and field team opened its 2023 season in fine fashion with a 51-28 victory over Greater Boston League rival Lynn English last Wednesday.
Coach Cesar Hernandez’s Red Devils took first place in six of the nine individual events and also captured the 4 x 400 relay.
The first-place victors for Chelsea were: Ali Warsame in the 300 dash in a clocking of 44.0; Nate Nadow in the 600 dash in 1:37.3; Jose Amaya in the 1000 with a time of 3:06.4; Alex Flores in the mile in 5:32.5; and Greandoll Oliva in the shot-put with a throw of 34’-0”.
The winning 4 x 400 quartet consisted of Nadow, Flores, Warsame, and Jose Olivar. Their time of 4:15 outpaced their English counterparts by 4.7 seconds.
Adding three points to the CHS scoresheet with second-place performances were: Oivar in the 300 dash; Austin Freeman inthe 600; Jason Rodrigues inthe 1000; Sherwin Kim in the mile; and Ajay Singh in the two-mle.
Emerson Melgar contributed a point with a third place performance in the shot.
Hernandez and his crew were scheduled to take on GBL foe Lynn Classical yesterday (Wednesday) and will face Somerville next Wednesday.
CHS Girls Track Opens With a Win
The Chelsea High girls indoor track and field team opened its season with a 49-30 victory over Lynn English last Wednesday.
Gizelle Rodriquez paced the Lady Red Devils’ winning effort with two first-place performances in the 1000 meter run in a clocking of 3:32.8 (which was 40 seconds faster than her closest English competitor, as well as 28 seconds faster than the winning run of the Medford vs. Malden meet also held that day) and the high jump with a leap of 4’-4”.
Gizelle also ran the opening leg of the winning CHS 4 x 400 relay to tally 11.25 points for the meet.
Other first-place finishers for Chelsea were: Giselle Olivar in the 600 in 2:14.4; Hazel Hatleburg in the mile in 7:14.8; Rosalinda Rojas in the two-mile in 17:18.7; and Dhalia Christmas in the shot-put with a toss of 27’-9.25”.
Second-place performances, adding three points to the CHS side of the scoresheet, came from: Darily Sanchez in the 300; Lauren Nadow in the hurdles; Reina Martino in the 600; and Lamari Davis in the shot.
Adding single points with third-place efforts were Emily Singh in the 300 and Farrah Henderson in the 55 dash.
Joining Rodriguez in the winning 4 x 400 relay were teammates Olivar, Ashley Mejia, and Hatleburg. Their time of 5:21 outpaced the Lynn English quartet by 26 seconds.
The Lady Red Devils were scheduled to take on GBL foe Lynn Classical yesterday (Wednesday) and will face Somerville next Wednesday.
CHS Girls Basketball Team Opens Season
Although the Chelsea High girls basketball team dropped its contest with Somerville this past Tuesday evening, a much-bigger loss for the Lady Red Devils was an injury to captain Edissa Ndayikeza, who was sent to the hospital with an injury in the first quarter.
The final tally showed Somerville prevailing by a score of 49-28. Freshman guard Monica Cespedes-Cruz enjoyed a fine night, scoring 17 points, including four three-pointers.
Monica also turned in a solid performance in the team’s season-opener last week with Lynn English, hitting for 14 points that included a trio of treys.
Captain Edissa added six points, junior Keara Chevez Trejo chipped in two points, and center Katerin Landaverde sank a free throw in the English contest.
First-year head coach Leslie Santiago and her crew are off through the vacation week and will be back in action against Everett on January 3 at the CHS gym.