Chelsea High’s girls track and field squad has not tasted defeat this season, standing at 7-0 as the dual meet portion winds down. Their latest triumphs came via a narrow victory over Mystic Valley (71-65) and a dominant performance against Shawsheen Tech (98-38), keeping the Lady Red Devils undefeated. According to CHS girls head coach Kim Huffer, “The girls are really pulling together as a team. They have been cheering each other on, celebrating with members who are getting personal bests, and overall just supporting each other. It’s exciting to seem the come together as a team.”
The Mystic Valley matchup proved particularly competitive, ultimately decided in the meet’s final event. In Huffer’s assessment, “Mystic Valley has improved greatly as a team over the past two years and we knew it was going to be a close battle.” Describing the tense finish, she explained: “The meet came down to the 4 x 400 relay. We knew we had to win that race to win the meet. We also knew that we would have to run a season best time. The members of that team had a lot of pressure to stay focused and run strong. With the support of their teammates cheering them on, Tatyana Almeida, Loren Ramos, Jesenia Contreras, and Mursal Hassan ran their best time of the season, improving eight seconds to win the relay and hence the meet. It was very exciting.”
Beyond the relay’s dramatic conclusion, Chelsea’s depth throughout the competition secured their edge over Mystic Valley. Thien-Ly Che anchored a Chelsea sweep in the 100 hurdles alongside Shuly Sejour and Quinnee Valenzona, also placing first in the triple jump and third in the 400 hurdles. Jesenia Contreras dominated the 800 run, finishing ahead of two competitors from Mystic Valley. In the 200 dash, Wendy Chung captured first place, added a second-place finish in the high jump, and participated on the victorious 4