Both the Chelsea High boys and girls saw their perfect seasons come to an end with losses last Wednesday in Billerica against Shawsheen Tech. Coach Don Fay’s boys now stand at 6-1 and the girls at 7-1.
In the boys’ race, a 25-32 defeat, Red Devil Ugo Cvjetan was the overall winner of the meet, setting a course record at Shawsheen’s course with a clocking of 18:13. Joseph Arroyo was the next Chelsea finisher in fourth place in 19:10.
Francisco Colindres was sixth with a time of 19:20, followed by senior captain Santos Hernandez in ninth place overall in 19:49. Senior Hector Mendoza was the fifth runner for Chelsea in 12th place in 20:32 to complete the Red Devil scoring.
“Shawsheen is a strong team,” said Fay, noting that Shawsheen has won the last three CAC championships. “We gave them a good battle, but it wasn’t quite enough today. Hopefully at the league meet there will be a different outcome.
“The boys have come a long way,” added the coach. “Two years ago they were very young and didn’t win a meet for the whole year. Most of the boys on the team have been running two or three years and they are now starting to see the fruits of their labor. But we’re not quite yet where we want to be”.
Fay’s boys squad will run at Greater Lawrence next week in the last dual meet of the season. After that they will run at Essex Aggie in Danvers in the CAC league championship meet.
On the girls’ side, bad luck befell the Lady Red Devils when their top runner, Suzanne Mikalixen, sprained her ankle and was unable to finish.
“The course is a double loop course and even without Suzanne, we were winning after the first two miles of the race,” said Fay, whose team eventually came out on the short end of a 25-30 decision. “Unfortunately Shawsheen was able to overtake us in the last mile.”
Duska Cvjetan was second overall for Chelsea, running 24:55 over the 3.1 mile course. Arandeni Ramos was the fifth overall runner, followed closely by Patricia Guardado who was 11 seconds behind. Senior captain Jesenia Contreras finished in eighth place running 25:39. Right behind her was Tatayana Almedia who ran 25:41. Paola Claros finished in 11th place, running 27:25.
“Our first five runners all finished within 46 seconds of each other, which is great team running,” said Fay. “However Shawsheen was first, third and fourth which was too much to overcome.” Had Mikalixen finished the race and taken first or second place, Chelsea would have emerged victorious. “ We expect a different result at the league meet,” said Fay.
The Lady Red Devils will join the boys in Greater Lawrence Thursday and then compete in the league meet Saturday.