Bob Fee meets Bob Fee at the Marathon

Chelsea’s Bobby Fee has run 31 marathons – 11 Boston Marathons and marathons from Rhode Island to Florida.
Before the marathon two weeks ago, Fee was looking over the list of entrants when he came to the name Robert Fee. However, that Robert Fee was a different person than our Bobby Fee of Chelsea, because our Bobby wasn’t running this year.
“Being inquisitive, I asked officials the day of the race if the other Robert Fee had picked up his number – and he had. I was disappointed because I wanted to meet the guy who shares my name,” Fee told the Chelsea Record last week.
Now our Bobby Fee tried to figure out how to contact the other Bobby Fee. It turned out to be as easy as looking in the phone book – the Portland, Oregon phonebook.
 “I called his home. There was no answer. I left a long message and told him I wanted to hook up with him for dinner after the marathon. His brother, Jimmy Fee, got the message that I left and called Bob, and then Bob called me,” Fee recalled.
Our Bobby Fee made arrangements to meet after the race. In fact, our Bobby Fee took the Portland, Oregon Bobby Fee to Jeveli’s in East Boston for dinner.
Dozens of Boston Marathon runners were eating at Jeveli’s at different tables.
Our Bobby, with the other Bobby on his arm, got into a conversation with others at Jeveli’s and told them the story. Soon, everyone in the place was buzzing about it. “Waitresses and everyone couldn’t believe it,” our Bobby Fee recalled.
Everyone enjoyed that post marathon dinner.
Our Bobby Fee gave the other Bobby Fee a 1998 Marathon jacket. “It was brand new. I never wore it,” our Bobby Fee told us.
“We later took a picture at the Parker House. When the Portland Bobby Fee was called by his buddies to find out how our dinner went, the conversation went like this: “I’m not telling you anything. It’s a show and tell. When I see you tonight, I’ll show you and tell you.”

Reaching new heights

Boys and Girls track show Div 1 Everett they are not out of their league
Facing a Division 1 Everett team that just beat up on Arlington 88-47, it would probably would have been considered an acceptable loss for the Lady Devils(3-0) to fall to the the talented former GBL rival, but coach Kim Huffer’s crew pulled together 24 personal bests on their way to inching out a victory.
“Theses girls just completely impressed me. They stepped up to the level of there competitors,” said Huffer. “They definitely felt the difference in competition, but were able to take themselves to the next level.”
 Although Huffer knew little about the Everett squad prior to the meet she heard about the team’s recent success and knew the competition would be far improved from the team’s last two lopsided victories.
“I was really impressed with them, especially when I heard they blew Arlington out of the water,” said Huffer. “I wouldn’t let our girls know it prior to the meet, but I would have been happy if we scored over 50 points.”
After being swept early in the hurdles, they did score 50 and 60 and then finally 70. Just enough to eke out a win, but with two events to go all was still up in the air.
“Going into the last two events we  had a two point lead, and I knew we needed another five points,” said Huffer.
Although the 4x4 relay didn’t earn a first place victory their finish was enough to set a new school record  and set the stage for Abeo Powder, who was the top scorer (11 points) with an earlier first place finish in the 100M and second place finishes in both the 200M, and Jenelyn Santos to take the meet in the triple jump. The pair earned the two top spots with Santos taking first with a personal best of 26 feet 9 3/4 inches, a jump that was over 2 feet better than any previous jumps this year.     
Earlier in the day, Jemima Barrios continued to play a game of top that with school record books as the junior for the third consecutive week set a new school record in the two mile, breaking her previous school record by almost 30 seconds with a time of 13.44.
Barrios, who also was on the cross country team earlier this year, attrributes her decion to do cross country as the guiding force behind her recent success as well as a stiff chalenge from a tough comepetitor she thought was on her heels.
"Everytime I was passing the Everett runner's parents I could hear them screaming for her, so i just thought she was right three the whole  time," said Barrios
Even with her contstant amendements to thw record book Barrios says she will continue to try to tope her own times.
"It makes me happy each time I break it, but it still makes me happy to keepp getting better," said Barrios
Barrios was a double winner also winning the mile with a time of 6.36.
Melissa Cheng also scored a first place finish in the shot put by throwing a personal best 22 feet 9 inches,  over 2 feet better than her previous throws.
“It was a great meet and a huge win for the girls,” said Huffer.  “This was the first time in five years that we’ve faced a non-league team.  I am extremely proud of the girls.  They rose to the challenge of competing against a Division I school, with many of the girls achieving personal bests that gained additional points for our team.”
After having Tuesday’s meet with Greater Lawrence rained out, next up for Chelsea is defending regular season champ Greater Lowell. The Devils lost 89-57 last year and Coach Huffer knows she will continue to need to get personal bests from her girls if they wish to continue their undefeated success.
“They are a very solid team with good performers,” said Huffer. “They are just good overall. They have a strength in pretty much every event.

After averaging over 90 points as a margin of victory in their first two meets, it took a Division 1 challenger to finally get close to the undefeated Chelsea boys track(3-0) team, but even that was not enough. The devils pulled away from Everett 84 to 52.
“I’m kind of surprised. I actually thought it would be a lot closer,” said coach Don Fay. “I’m very happy, though. All the boys performed well.”
With early dominance against lesser opponents, Everett  provided a new challenge from an old GBL rival.
“Chelsea hasn’t faced them since they left the GBL, so there wasn’t much to go on, but I knew they had good high jumpers and a good relay team,” said Fay.
To overcome the jump to a Division 1 challenger, the boys team got contributions across the board from veterans to newer members.
In the two-mile, the boys swept with senior Giovanni Vega taking first and brothers Johni and Edgar Funes taking second and third.
Senior captain Henry Morales also locked up his spot at the state meet with a time of 52 seconds flat in the quarter mile. Morales also anchored the winning 4x4 relay team.
Achieving career milestones senior Pabel Perez posted a personal best of 38 feet 11 inches in the triple jump good enough for third, while junior Stephen Chavez posted a time of 46.6 in the high hurdles, also good enough for third.
With all this early success, it’s easy to forget the hard times for Chelsea track, but Coach Fay said his seniors have strong motivation to do their best, even if there competition isn’t.
“We’re doing well, but I don’t think they are overconfident,” said Fay. “For some of our seniors, they remember what it was like a couple years ago when they were freshmen being blown out. A couple of years ago, it was they who had 100 point losses.”
After having Tuesday’s meet with Greater Lawrence rained out, next up for the Devils is undefeated Greater Lowell.

Offensive struggles set tone for baseball team

Losing the Commonwealth Athletic Conference player of the year and their lead-off man has certainly showed this season as the Chelsea Boys baseball team struggles out the gate with a 1-7 start.
“Our hitting is inexperienced and it shows,” said coach Titus Manderson. “Chris Pazos and Edward Garcia are my only set guys returning from last year. The rest of the lineup are all new everyday players.”
While early defensive struggles dictated early losses, Manderson believes his team has cleared that hurdle.
“Defensively we are doing a much better job than early on,” said Manderson. “The last four games we are playing very good D. Everyone has managed to improve.”
Nowhere was this more evident than the team’s 1-0 loss to Whittier, where junior Pedro Pientel went seven innings for the complete game. Pientel has been showing steady  improvement and capped it off with a gem in his second start of the season.
“He has pitched excellently. I knew he was talented and his performance shows it,” said Manderson. “He is going to be very good. Right now he is still getting comfortable.”
Next up for the Devils is Friday at home versus Greater Lawrence at 3:45 p.m.