The Chelsea High girls track & field team had a busy week, defeating their last four conference foes to finish the season at 8-0, the Lady Red Devils’ fifth straight undefeated dual meet season, to earn the title of CAC Dual Meet Champs.
Last Wednesday, the team traveled to Shawsheen Tech and defeated the host Lady by a score of 87-49. Standout performers included:
– Shanice Hernandez: 1st place in Shot Put, 2nd place in Discus
– Zuleima Castillo: 1st place in Javelin, 2nd place in 100M
– Shuly Sejour: 1st place in Long Jump, 200M, and 100 Hurdles, 2nd place in High Jump
– Rebecca Torrento: 1st place in Discus, 3rd place in Shot Put
– Thien Ly Che: 1st place in Triple Jump, 2nd place in 100 Hurdles and 400 Hurdles (this hurdle time of 74.82 sets a new school record, the 3rd time Ly has broken the record this year)
– Tatyana Almeida: 1st place in 800M, 2nd place in Triple Jump
On Friday, Chelsea hosted Northeast Tech in the last home meet of the season. The girls won 118-17. Standout performers included:
– Tatyana Almeida: Three 1st place finishes (400M, Triple Jump, and 4×400 Relay)
– Shuly Sejour: perfect day with four 1st place finishes (100 Hurdles, High Jump, Long Jump, 200M)
– Zuleima Castillo: Three 1st place finishes (100M, Javelin, 4×100 Relay)
-Shanice Hernandez: Two 1st place finishes (Shot Put, Discus)
On Monday, Chelsea trekked to Whittier Tech for their last dual meet. The meet was a double dual meet with the girls facing both PMA and Whittier. The Lady Red Devils came home with two more victories. They beat Whittier by a score of 78-58 and PMA by a score of 115-17. Standouts included
– Quinnee Valenzona: 1st place in 400 Hurdles, 2nd place in 400M
– Arandeni Ramos: 1st place in 2 Mile
– Shuly Sejour: 1st place in 100 Hurdles and Long Jump, 2nd place in 200M
– Zuleima Castillo: 1st place in 100M, 3rd place in javelin
– Thien-Ly Che: 1st place in 400M and Triple Jump
– Shanice Hernandez: 1st place in Shot Put
“This season has been full of surprises,” said CHS Kim Huffer. “Going into the season, we (the coaching staff) knew that we had a lot of gaps to fill by athletes who had graduated or weren’t returning. The growth of this team has been amazing to watch. Many of our returning athletes have worked hard to improve themselves and help the new athletes this year.
“Coach Amanda Alpert and I went into this season seeing it as a rebuilding year and has been surprised to see how both the returning athletes and the new athletes have responded and stepped up in competitions,” continued Huffer. “There is a sense of pride that this team has. They are striving to get their personal bests in their events in every meet. This determination will be needed as we enter the conference meet on Saturday.”
A contingent of 29 Lady Red Devils have met the qualification standards and will be competing in the CAC League Meet on Saturday at Greater Lowell, where the Chelsea girls will be going for their 3rd straight CAC League Meet Championship.
“It’s been a great season so far,” noted Huffer. “This will be a huge challenge for the team but they’ve surpassed expectations this season so I’m excited to see how they perform at the biggest meet of the year. “
CHS baseball team splits two games
The Chelsea High baseball team remained above .500 at 7-6 on the season by splitting its two games this past. The Red Devils dropped a 6-2 decision to the Maimonides School of Brookline last Thursday under the lights in Chelsea, but bounced back with a 10-5 triumph over Minuteman Regional Tuesday.
In the victory over Minuteman, Carlos Vega went all seven innings on the mound and was backed by some staunch defense by his teammates. Carlos also helped his own cause at the plate with three hits and a run scored.
Freshman Carlos Ramos, making his first varsity start in left field, enjoyed a memorable debut in the majors, collecting two hits and making some nice plays in the field.
The Red Devils moved out to a 4-0 lead in the opening inning and never looked back, building a 9-1 advantage midway through the contest, though Minuteman chipped away to leave matters at 9-5 entering the seventh inning. However, Chelsea tacked on another tally in the top of the seventh to solidify their hold on the game.
In the Maimonides contest, Chelsea took a 1-0 edge in the opening inning when Jason Reyes led off with a triple and eventually scored. But Maimonides scored four runs in the first three frames off CHS starter Brandon Morales, who was victimized by some poor play by his defense. Odonys Urbaez came on for the final four innings, yielding two runs.
“Maimonides made some nice plays in the field and we didn’t,” said CHS head coach Alan Beausoleil, especially noting a double play pulled off by Maimonides when a shot by Morales was grabbed on a diving catch by a Maimonides outfielder, who then doubled up a Red Devil runner to extinguish a CHS threat that had seen runners at second and third with one out.
The Red Devils have a busy final stretch to conclude the regular season. Beausoleil and his crew were set to host Greater Lowell yesterday (Wednesday) and Shawsheen tomorrow. They will trek to No. Shore Tech Tuesday.
Red Devil trackmen win two meets
The Chelsea High boys track & field team won two of its three meets this past week to finish their dual meet season with a 4-3 record. The boys lost to Shawsheen Tech last Wednesday 79-57, but subsequently beat Northeast 111-26 and Whittier 81-54.
The Red Devils now will be pointing to the Commonwealth Athletic Conference all-league meet this Saturday morning at Greater Lowell.
“This is the first time in six years that this team has lost more one dual meet, so we are disappointed in that outcome,” said CHS head coach Don Fay. “But are hoping for a strong day at the league meet to offset our earlier losses this season.”
In the Whittier victory, Luis Hernandez enjoyed a huge day, winning four events and qualifying for the state meet in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.21 to remain undefeated in that event. Luis also captured the high jump with a leap of 5-8 (to stay undefeated in that event as well), the long jump, and the 400 meter hurdles.
“ Luis is having a tremendous season,” said Fay. “He has finished no lower than second in any event this year and is good for 16-20 points every meet. We expect a big day from him Saturday.”
Freshman Jeffrey Estrada won his first race in the two mile run in a personal record (PR) clocking of 11:55. Jeffrey was followed by teammates Tony Nguyen and Joseph Chirinos in second and third to complete a Chelsea sweep in that event.
Chester Rath won the mile in a PR of 5:09, followed by Kevin Ortiz 5:10 and Edgar Ocana 5:18 for another Red Devil sweep.
The 4 x100 team of Kevin Luu, Brian Horn, Zavier Martin, and Anthony Carrasquilla sped to victory in 50.4. Brian Pliego won the javelin with a throw of 114-0. Brendan Horn won the triple jump with a landing of 35-0.
Joseph Arroyo won the 800 meters in 2:16 with Anthony Santiago (2:18) and Kevin Chinchilla (2:19) in second and third for a CHS sweep.
Wilfredo Leiva took second in the 400 meter hurdles in 67.5. Zavier Martin was second in the 100 meters, while Brandon Rath was second in 55.7 in the 400 meters. Rony Gomez threw the discus 110-2 for second place. Kevin Luu ran 25.46 to place second in the 200 meters.
Third place finishers for Chelsea were: Leiva in the 110 meter hurdles; Brendan Horn in the 400 meters in 58.8; Brian Pliego with a PR shotput heave of 38- 8; Horn again with a third in the long jump; Kevin Menzezw in the triple jump; and Oscar Erazo in the 200 in 25.8.