Boys Track Team: Claims NEC South Title

They say that patience is a virtue. For the Revere High boys track & field team, the two weeks’ worth of delays while awaiting Mother Nature to give her okay for their penultimate meet of the season against Gloucester proved the truth of that axiom, with an outcome that was well worth the wait.

Thanks to a dominating performance by the Patriots in the field events, the Revere boys powered their way to a decisive 85-46 victory that gave coach Sam Ros’s squad an undisputed Northeastern Conference South Division title.

After the running events had been completed and tallied, the scoresheet showed Revere trailing by a slim 40-37 margin. However, that advantage would prove to be the apogee of the Gloucester effort for the day, as Revere soon took control of the meet thanks to a series of sweeps and near sweeps in the throwing and jumping events.

NEC Most Valuable Performer Devin Colon led the way for Revere with 14 points, thanks to first place finishes in the triple jump and long jump, a second in the 400 meter dash, and a third in the 400 low hurdles.

However, Devin was joined by a bevy of Patriot heroes: Omar Morales took first place finishes in the shotput and the discus for 10 points; Ricardo Maldonado took a first in the javelin, second places in the 100 meter dash and high jump, and was a member of the winning 4 x 100 relay quartet for 12.25 points on the day; Tarik Maddrey leapt to victory in the high jump and took a third in the 100 high hurdles for six points; Karim Sahila was a winner in the 100 hurdles, took second in the 400 hurdles, and third in the high jump for nine points; Johnny Lopes was a force with 10.25 points with second place finishes in the triple jump, long jump, and 200 dash and ran the opening leg of the 4 x 100 relay; Jeff Simbert took first in the 100 dash; fellow NEC all-star Mike Fitzpatrick took first in the mile; and Vito Licata put six points onto the Revere side of the scoresheet with second place efforts in the shotput and discus.

Other point scorers for Revere were: Christian Ortez with a third in the 100 dash and a leg in the 4 x 100; Younes Hartout with a third in the 200 dash and a leg of the 4 x 100; Mohamed Bensadok with a third in the 800; Abdul Hamedeh with a third in the discus to complete a Patriot sweep of that event; and Joe Simonini with a third in the javelin.

“This was a well deserved victory and championship,” said Ros. “We worked hard all season for it.  It was tough keeping our focus considering the showdown with Gloucester was two weeks late.

“The boys in the field events came up extremely huge for us,” continued Ros. “Going into the meet, I knew that the running events would pretty much be a split.  With the meet going either way at that point, I stressed to the boys that we needed to give it our all in the field events and they really came through for us.

“Unlike last year when we tied Gloucester with the same record to be co-champs, this year we are the undisputed champions of the NEC South,” added Ros. “I’d like to thank the boys for being accepting of me as their coach this season and being open to everything I had to teach them.  I’d also like to thank Ms. Rosalind Murphy, our assistant track coach, who headed up the sprinting events.  Without our coaching teamwork, our season might not have been as successful.

“I’d also like to mention that Revere High’s annual sports awards night honoring the senior athletes was the same day as our meet,” Ros said in conclusion. “Awards night was scheduled to start at 6 p.m.  We were trying our best to get the meet won and make it to awards night to give everyone the good news.  The majority of our kids, including Ms. Murphy and I, were dressed for a track meet and were thankful that our bus driver, Jimmy, was able to drop us off at the movie theater immediately after the meet.  I’d also like to thank our AD, Shaun Hart, for holding off the ceremony as long as possible so that our kids could participate.  The ceremony was pushed to about 6:30 and we got there just before 7 p.m., not missing much at all.  I’d like to thank everyone in attendance for putting up with the later start and I hope they all understand that we were winning a championship for Revere and our kids deserved to be a part of awards night.”

Although the season is over for most of the Patriots, Fitzpatrick will compete in the all-state meet in the 800 meter run. That meet was postponed because of rain on Saturday, but was scheduled to go off yesterday (Tuesday). “It was a blessing in disguise because Fitzy woke up Saturday morning with his back hurting him and he is still recovering,” noted Ros. “Hopefully, he’ll be ready to go.”

Ros aid he also is aiming to take his sprint medley foursome of Fitzpatrick, Colon, Hartout, and Sahila to North Carolina for the nationals on June 14th.

“They worked hard to qualify for it,” said Ros. “Obviously a trip to North Carolina would be expensive and fundraising will be very important.”

RHS softball team upsets Lexington, 2-0

The Revere High softball team, seeded at number 21 in the Division 1 North bracket of the MIAA softball tournament with a 10-10 record, pulled off  a major upset in the opening round of tourney play last Thursday with a 2-0 win at 12th seeded Lexington, the Middlesex League champion which sported a 14-7 record coming into the tourney.

RHS freshman pitcher Sabrina Palermo was brilliant from beginning to end, spinning a two hit shutout in which she walked only one, fanned four, and did not allow a runner to get past second base. “Sabrina was unbelievable,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello. “Lexington is a good hitting team, but Sabrina hit her spots all game and was in control all the way.”

Palermo was also the beneficiary of a flawless defensive effort by her teammates behind her, most notably sophomore shortstop Logan DiCarlo and freshman second baseman Kristina Stella, both of whom accounted for six assists on the day.

“The middle of our infield was rock solid,” noted Ciccarello. “Logan made some sensational plays at shortstop for us.”

Revere broke open the 0-0 deadlock in the top of the fourth with two runs. A walk to Jackie Noel and base hits by DiCarlo and Cassandra DiBella loaded the bases, setting the table for Michaela Maguire. The senior came through with a rocket up the middle to bring in Noel and was followed by another solid base hit up the middle by Courtney Gurska to send in DiCarlo.

That would prove to be all of the offense that Palermo and the Revere defense would need en route to the 2-0 triumph. “We came in as huge underdogs,” said Ciccarello. “But we kept our focus and played well in every aspect of the game. This was a huge win for our program.”

That triumph brought the Lady Patriots a date on Sunday at Central Catholic, a perennial D-1 powerhouse that is the fifth seed in the D-1 North with a 17-4 record.

The contest started well for Revere, thanks to a two run roundtripper blast by Gurska in the top of the second that also scored Maguire, who had singled. Central got one back in the fourth, but the Lady Patriots’ tourney magic ran out in the Central fifth. A bloop double with the bases loaded, which was just beyond the outstretched glove of Stella, opened the floodgates, as Central put up eight runs on the scoreboard.

Revere got one back in the sixth when Alex Ambrosino’s ground out scored DiCarlo from third base to make it a 9-3 affair, but that would prove to be as close as the Lady Patriots would get.

“We had a great year,” said Ciccarello. “We had lost out three top fielders and hitters from last season, but our younger players stepped up and made significant contributions. We’ll miss our seniors, Brian Lauletta, Courtney Gurska, Michaela Maguire, and Alex Ambrosino, who provided this team with great leadership and never let us get down. But we have a lot of talented girls returning and the future for our program is bright.”