The boy’s and girl’s cross country teams opened up their season last Wednesday at Presentation of Mary Academy in Methuen. The girl’s team arrived in Methuen with only five girls running, two of which were brand new to cross country. Despite those obstacles the girl’s defeated PMA by one point 27-28 and handed the Whittier Tech girls a 19-36 loss. Finishing second overall was defending league champion, junior captain Yarid Deras. This might be Yarid’s toughest individual test of the dual meet season. She defeated Shakira Henriquez by eight seconds in the league meet last year in a great race. It’s Shakira’s home course and it’s very early so we are not that concerned about the loss. Junior captain Jocelyn Poste was fourth overall for the lady red devils while the third PMA runner finished fifth, meaning the only way Chelsea could win is if they captured the next three spots. Freshman Kathy Arias finished sixth in her first cross country race, while sophomore Karina Avalos was seventh, and first year cross country runner senior Carla Romero finished just ahead of a hard charging PMA runner. We had no room for error with only five girls (the minimum required for a team score). Everybody ran well and it was nice to leave with two victories today. Especially, with Kathy and Carla running in their first races and not really knowing what to expect.
The boy’s split their two meets, defeating the PMA boy’s by a score of 18-43 and losing to Whittier by the close score of 26-31. Senior captain Jose Leclerc won by eighteen seconds over his nearest competitor. Jose had a great summer of training and is in top shape. He, along with the coaching staff have high expectations for a terrific season. Wuilfido Hernandez was the next Chelsea finisher in fourth place followed by first year runner Justin Turner who was fifth. Unfortunately, Whittier secured the next four spots to win the meet. Our top three ran well,but we had a big gap after our third runner which resulted in Whittier winning the meet. Hopefully we can close that gap for next week at home against Mystic Valley.
Leave a Reply