CHS Girls Track Wins CAC Crown
The Chelsea High girls indoor track & field team captured its third straight Commonwealth Athletic Conference championship this past Saturday at the Lynn Tech Fieldhouse.
The Lady Red Devils took first place in five of the nine individual events and then won the final event, the 4 x 400 relay, to edge Greater Lowell by a single point, 82-81. The Lynn Tech/Notre Dame team was right behind with 79 points.
This title also marked the last CAC indoor crown for Chelsea, which is switching to the Greater Boston League for the next school year.
Leading the way for the Lady Red Devils with 30 points was senior Stephanie Simon, who won three events, the high hurdles, the 55-meter dash, and the high jump.
Teammate Ana Chang won her specialty, the 600 dash. Ana was named the league MVP for going undefeated in the 600 — an event Ana had never run before this year — by a typical margin of victory in the range of 12-15 seconds. In addition, Chang spearheaded the victorious Chelsea 4 x 400 relay team, which also was undefeated this season.
Gloria Rodriguez, who won all of her league meets this year, brought home the other first-place finish for the Lady Red Devils in her specialty, outsprinting the field in the 300 dash. Gloria also ran a leg of the 4 x 400 relay.
Among the unsung heroes for Chelsea was Percy Melgar. Percy earned two points for the Lady Red Devils with a fifth-place finish in the two-mile run and then came back to earn a crucial point in the 1,000 dash with a sixth-place effort.
Angeline Nguyen likewise came through with a key sixth-place performance in the 600 dash.
“What was most impressive was that we only had eight girls, fielding the second smallest team at the meet,” said CHS head coach Cesar Hernandez. “It was a team effort as every girl competing scored points contributing to the final score. This included some key sixth-place finishes from Percy Melgar and Angeline Nguyen. If either of them had fallen to seventh in those events, it would have resulted in a tie for us with Greater Lowell.
“Many girls knew they would have to do events outside of their comfort zone because of the small team and it’s because of that willingness that we achieved the success we did this season,” Hernandez added.
The full list of point-scorers for Chelsea:
2 mile: 5th (Percy Melgar)
High Hurdles: 1st (Stephanie Simon)
55 Dash: 1st (Stephanie Simon)
300: 1st (Gloria Rodriguez)
600: 1st, 6th (Ana Chang, Angeline Nguyen)
1000: 4th, 6th (Gabriela Rivas, Percy Melgar)
1 Mile: 2nd (Sade Rosales)
Shotput: 3rd (Dhalia Christmas)
High Jump: 1st (Stephanie Simon)
4×400: 1st (Ana Chang, Gabriela Rivas, Gloria Rodriguez, Sade Rosales)
The final team scoring was: Chelsea (82), Greater Lowell (81), Lynn Tech/Notre Dame (79), Greater Lawrence (47), and Northeast (18).
Boys Do Well At CAC Meet
Although the Chelsea High boys indoor track & field team came up short at this past weekend’s Commonwealth Athletic Conference Meet, a number of Red Devils turned in stellar performances.
“We had a decent meet, but it was not enough to win the day,” said coach Cesar Hernandez of his team, who finished with 64 points behind Greater Lowell (85 points) and Greater Lawrence (66 points).
“Although we were hoping for better, there weren’t many events where we could have done better than we already had,” added Hernandez. “There were some impressive personal bests on the day.”
Jazmany Reyes was Chelsea’s top point-getter of the day. Jazmany competed in a tough double, winning the two mile and getting third in the mile later in the meet.
Richard Flores threw almost two feet further than he ever has to place second in the shotput. Nate Nadow ran his fastest time this season to finish second in the 600, followed closely by Oscar Amaya in third.
Hector Rivera and Quan Vu had their best hurdle races of the season to take home fifth and sixth place medals.
The final score breakdown was Greater Lowell (85), Grewater Lawrence (66), Chelsea (64), Lynn Tech (42), and Northeast (40).
Boy event results:
2 mile: 1st, 6th (Jazmany Reyes, Johnny Maldonado)
High Hurdles: 5th, 6th (Hector Rivera, Quan Vu)
600: 2nd, 3rd (Nate Nadow, Oscar Amaya)
1000: 3rd, 4th (Ruben Padilla, Alex Estrada)
1 Mile: 3rd (Jazmany Reyes)
Shotput: 2nd, 4th (Richard Flores, Rigo Flores)
4×400: 2nd (Nate Nadow, Kennedy Lopez, Saul Zepeda, Oscar Amaya)
Simons Named Meet MVP; Reyes Sets CHS Record
Members of the Chelsea High indoor track competed last Sunday in the State Coaches Invitational Meet that was held at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Stephanie Simon won the long jump (18’-2.75”) and took second in the high jump (5’-2”) and was named the meet’s MVP.
Jazmany Reyes also was a highlight for the Red Devils, as he got his fourth school record of the season, breaking Jose Leclerc’s record in the 1,000 by seven seconds in a time of 2:46.23.
“We had a strong feeling Jazmany could do it, so we decided to give him the opportunity, as he raced it for the first time at the Reggie this season,” said CHS head coach Cesar Hernandez.
CHS Boys Track Defeats Lynn Tech
Last Wednesday the CHS boys indoor track team went up against Lynn Tech, winning 58-27, to finish with a fine 4-1 record in dual meets for the season.
Point-scorers for the Red Devils were:
2 mile: 1st, 2nd (Johnny Maldonado, Joseph Teruel)
55H: 2nd (Hector Rivera)
300: Sweep (Saul Zepeda, Hikerth Santizo, Kennedy Lopez)
600: 1st, 2nd (Nate Nadow, Oscar Amaya)
1000: 1st, 2nd (Alex Estrada, Ruben Padilla)
1 Mile: 1st, 3rd (Jazmany Reyes, Ian Padilla)
Shotput: 1st, 3rd (Rigo Flores, Jeffrey Ponce)
Highjump: 1st (Emmanuel Simon)
4×400: Jazmany Reyes, Kennedy Lopez, Saul Zepeda, Hikerth Santizo
CHS Girls Complete Undefeated Season
The Chelsea High girls indoor track team completed an undefeated dual-meet season with an exciting 46-40 victory over a combined Lynn Tech and Notre Dame team.
The meet came down to the 4 x 400 relay for the girls, which the Lady Red Devils narrowly won by a second.
“Considering the size of our girls team (nine), this is an amazing accomplishment, to not lose a dual meet when you are one of the smallest teams in the conference” said CHS head coach Cesar Hernandez. “We were really carried by Stephanie Simon, Ana Chang, and Gloria Rodriguez, who have not lost to a conference opponent in any event this season.”
Point-scorers for Chelsea were:
2 Mile: 2nd (Percy Melgar)
55H: 1st (Stephanie Simon)
55: 1st (Stephanie Simon)
300: 1st (Gloria Rodriguez)
600: 1st, 3rd (Ana Chang, Angeline Nguyen)
1000: 2nd (Gabby Rivas)
1 Mile: 1st (Sade Rosales)
Shotput: 2nd (Dhalia Christmas)
High Jump: 1st, 3rd (Stephanie Simon, Ana Chang)
4×400: Ana Chang, Gabby Rivas, Sade Rosales, Gloria Rodriguez.