Last Thursday brought Chelsea High’s girls track and field squad to Greater Lowell for a Commonwealth Athletic Conference championship showdown against the previously undefeated Gryphons. “We knew we were going to face a tough Greater Lowell team,” stated CHS head coach Kim Huffer. “We knew that we would need to have a great day on the track to win against such a strong team.”
The opening stages of competition saw both squads perform impressively, with Greater Lowell and Chelsea trading strong showings that kept the overall score tight. As the meet progressed through most events, neither team could pull away decisively. Heading into the final three events—the 800, 200, and 4 x 400 relay—Chelsea found itself trailing 62-51. “In our conference, 69 points is necessary to win a dual meet,” Huffer observed. “We thought we could score in all of these events, but we knew that we would need first place finishes in each, as well as at least one second place finish, to win the meet. Going into those events, the girls knew we were behind in the score and pushed hard to cross the finish line before Greater Lowell. It was stressful, yet exciting.”
What followed was a dominant stretch for the Lady Red Devils. They shut out Greater Lowell entirely in the remaining competitions, sweeping both the 800 and 200 to secure the championship. Chelsea then capped their performance by winning the 4 x 400 relay while matching the school record of 4:38, establishing a final score of 74-62. “I couldn’t be happier for this team,” Huffer commented. “We had 27 personals bests during this meet. One of our distance runners, Arandeni Ramos, improved her time by 44 seconds to finish second in the two mile. One of our throwers, Bahiya Nasuuna, threw over two feet further than her previous best to finish in third place in the shotput. It was a total team effort and I am extremely proud of them.”
This victory gave Chelsea an 8-0 undefeated season and an outright CAC title. Several Lady Red Devils earned standout finishes: Shot Put—1. Diana Batists (26’2″), 3. Bahiya Nasuuna; Discus—3. Rebecca Torrento; Javelin—2. Cristal Rodriguez, 3. Zuleima Castillo; High Jump—2. Mursal Hassan, 3. Wendy Chung; Long Jump—2. Stephanie Moni, 3. Shuly Sejour; Triple Jump—3. Thien-Ly Che; 100 Hurdles—1. Shuly Sejour, 2. Thien-Ly Che; 100 dash—2. Stephanie Moni, 3. Zuleima Castillo; 2 Mile—2. Arandeni Ramos; Mile—1. Anelsa Beqo (6.19), 2. Jennifer Medrano; 400 Hurdles—2. Thien-Ly Che, 3. Mursal Hassan; 400 dash—2. Quinnee Valenzona, 3. Tatyana Almeida; 800—1. Jesenia Contreras (2:48), 2. Belinda Beqo, 3. Jennifer Medrano; 200—1. Wendy Chung (28.6), 2. Shuly Sejour, 3. Karolyn Moni.