RHS Sports Roundup

RHS boys win long jump event at state relay meet

The trio of Joe Llanos, Antony Arias, and Camron Ventura combined to bring home first place in the long jump at the Division 1 State Relay Meet held this past Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.

Llanos’s leap of 21′-2.75″ placed him in second-place among the large field of 72 individual competitors. Arias was the fifth-best long jumper with a distance of 20′-2.5″ and Ventura was seventh with a jump of 19′-10.75″.

Their combined distance of 61′-4″ edged Lowell, which had a distance of 61′-.75″.

“I knew based on last year’s state relays long jump results that we had a high chance of at least finishing in the top three,” said RHS head coach Sam Ros. “If we were on our game, we had a shot to win the whole thing. A few days prior to the meet with the help of a former RHS track runner, Monica Posada, we were able to get some practice time at the Boston University indoor track to work on refining our jumps since we don’t have a long jump pit in the RHS fieldhouse.

“Everyone was only afforded two jumps in this competition,” added Ros. “After the first jumps our total distance was just over 60 feet, which based on last year would be around the winning distance. Going into our last jumps, I told our boys if we improve collectively by a few more inches each, then we could win it all. Cam Ventura improved by eight inches, Antony Arias held fast with a great jump of over 20 feet, and Joe Llanos improved by about seven inches. Those final jumps gave us the three-inch edge over a great Lowell team.”

In addition to the long jumpers, coach Sam Ros’s Patriots turned in strong performances in other events. 

The 4 x 50 shuttle hurdles quartet of Ricardo Goncalves, Rayan Riazi, Michael Adolphus, and Arias earned third-place medals.

“The result is a testament to how hard these boys have worked,” said Ros. “We finished third at this meet last year, but at that time we had the benefit of having our top two hurdlers on that team, Lucas Barbosa and Fray Del Rosario. That team ran a time of 27.80. We lost Lucas due to a constant hamstring issue and we lost Fray due to his family moving to Lynn. Michael has been very limited with racing hurdles this year because the other three have a slight edge on him and I have used Michael to more of his strength, which are the long sprints/mid-distance races. Despite those setbacks, our four boys ran almost a full second faster than last year.”

The RHS shot-put trio of Rayan Riazi, Jaryd Benson, and Alaa Atoui turned in a strong effort to finish in ninth place, just missing out on a medal. “The boys had a chance to medal if they were to throw their PRs (personal records), but we fell just short,” noted Ros.

The 4 x 800 quartet of Victor Pelatere, Christian Madrid, Adolphus, and Fabio Tran narrowly missed medaling with a ninth-place finish in 8:37.90.

“Our goal this year with this team is to break the school record, which is 8:33.2,” said Ros. “We had a couple of bad splits and finished just short. If we are on our game, the boys are capable of running under 8:30. I believe that they will do that by the end of the season.”

The 4 x 200 relay foursome of Llanos, Marco Cerbone, Ventura, and Riazi ran their fastest time this season with a clocking of 1:36.74. “With a few minor tweaks, they are within striking distance of the school record,” said Ros.

The 4 x 400 team of Adolphus, Cerbone, Augusto Goncalves, and Pelatere also ran their fastest time of the year in 3:42.36.

The distance medley team consisted of James Carpinelli, Augusto Goncalves, Sami El Asri, and Carlos Quintanilla.

“James gave us a great first leg in the 1,200,” said Ros. “Augusto is finally coming back into form and did a split of 56.0 in the 400. Sami continues to show improvement as a freshman in the 800. Carlos held steady in the 1,600, showing us that he is close to breaking five minutes in the mile.

“Overall it was a great meet for us,” added Ros.

The Patriots will meet Medford tomorrow (Thursday) at the Merullo Fieldhouse and will trek to Malden next Wednesday for their final dual meet of the indoor season.

RHS swim team

tops Medford, 92-78

The Revere High swim team earned a 92-78 victory over Medford last Thursday.

Leading the way for the Patriots were captains Reked Caushaj and David Del Rio, both of whom earned first-place finishes in two events.  Reed captured the 50 and 100 freestyle races and David outswam the field in in the 200 IM and 100 back.They were joined by Ashton Hoang and Ahmed Ohalid in winning the 200 medley relay and taking second place in the 200 free relay.

Ashton also added a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 fly and 100 breaststroke, while Ahmed was third in both the 50 and 100 free. 

In the 400 free relay, the quartet of Miguel Leonarte, Lucas Mejia, Mathews Oliviera, and Jeffrey Martinez made a major contribution to the winning effort with a first-place finish.

Isabella Veraldi turned in a strong performance, taking third in the IM and second in the back and leading her medley relay team to a third-place finish with Martinez, Oliveria, and Julian Goglia.

The 200 free-relay team of Aaron Curty, Edson Pereiro, Lucas Pinheiro, and Mejia got a third place finish.

Coach Chris Hill and his crew of aquanauts are set to take on Malden tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at the Garfield School pool.

RHS girls do well at state relay meet; Barbosa sets RHS mark

The Revere High girls indoor track & field team competed in the D1 State Relay Championships Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center. 

The Lady Patriot long jump relay trio comprised of Jerelys Canales, Carolina Bettero, and Luana Barbosa finished in ninth place overall and was highlighted by the setting of a new school long jump record by Barbosa.

“Jerelys was taking off from about a foot behind the board, which cost us some distance, and Carolina didn’t have her best day at the pit,” noted LaBruna. “Luana jumped 15′-2″, which set the new indoor track school record in the long jump. She will be jumping again this Sunday and will try and improve on that record, which she is certainly capable of doing.” 

The 4 X 400 relay quartet comprised of Carolina Bettero, Nubya Filho, Astrid Umanzor, and Allanah Burke turned in a strong performance with a time of 4:39.

“I was very pleased with the 4 x 400 team,” said RHS head coach Antonio LaBruna. “Three of the girls ran splits under 70 seconds and it was our fastest 4 X 400 time in the last few seasons.”

The RHS 4 X 200 relay team, comprised of Barbosa, Kathy Umanzor, Astrid Umanzor, and Canales, ran a 1:56.83, which is just over a second off a school record time.

“This was their fastest time of the season,” added LaBruna. “They will have one more crack at breaking the school record on February 9th at a meet back at the Reggie.”

LaBruna and his crew are set to take on Medford tomorrow (Thursday) at the Merullo Fieldhouse at RHS and will wrap up their dual-meet season at Malden next Wednesday.

RHS boys basketball

defeats KIPP, 53-40

The Revere High boys basketball team snapped a two-game skid with a 53-40 victory at KIPP Academy in Lynn on the holiday this past Monday.

Revere senior Captain Robert Raduazzo (six points, three steals) got the Patriots going early in the contest with two nice finishes around the basket. Combined with some great pressure defense led by junior guard Crisrael Lithgow (who finished the game with four steals), Revere jumped to an early 7-2 lead.

KIPP came right back with two quick baskets,  but then Lithgow (23 points) drained a three pointer to give the Patriots a 10-6 lead. However, KIPP finished the quarter on a 4-0 run and the game was level at 10 after one period.

The second quarter was played just as tightly with the home team Panthers getting balanced scoring around the basket. However, Lithgow caught fire, as he often has done throughout the season, scoring 11 points (out of Revere’s 13) in the second period to boost the Patriots into a slim 24-23 advantage at the half after a KIPP buzzer-beater by Winfred Sanchez. 

“We talked to the team at halftime and stressed ball movement and teamwork,” said RHS head coach David Leary. “Obviously Cris (Lithgow) had a fantastic first half, but I never have seen one guy win a game by himself. We also knew their defense would try to take him away.” 

The Patriots responded to Leary’s halftime exhortation and adjusted their play after the intermission. Six Revere players scored at least a basket in the third quarter, led by senior captain Amara Bockarie (eight points, five rebounds, four steals), who was everywhere on the court, scoring all of his points in the quarter and leading the pressure defense. 

“Amara’s energy and leadership out there in the third quarter was what we needed,” said Leary “and the team just responded after that.” 

With the Patriots moving out to a commanding a 43-28 lead heading into the final quarter, junior forward Dillan Day (five assists) displayed his adept passing skills in the final eight minutes, repeatedly finding open teammates, especially sophomore forward John Capozzi (a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds) on some nice pick and rolls, enabling the Pats to come away with the 53-40 victory.

Last Thursday night Leary and his crew made the short trip westward down Broadway into Chelsea to take on their archrival Red Devils, whom the Patriots had defeated in their first encounter two weeks previously.

Coming off of a tough loss at Malden a few nights before, the Patriots were hoping to start better and they did. Led on offense by Raduazzo (15 points) and Lithgow, who knocked down early three-pointers to get the team going, and displaying tough defense, the Patriots jumped out to a 14-6 lead with 2:06 remaining in the opening quarter in front of a large crowd of boisterous fans on both sides.

However, Chelsea regrouped following a timeout and closed the gap to 14-13 at the first buzzer. The second quarter was more of the same, as tough defense prevailed on both ends of the court and neither team could get things going offensively. 

Capozzi (11 points, nine rebounds) had a pair of put-backs and Day (12 points, eight rebounds) drained a corner trey to put Revere up, 22-18, with 1:45 left in the half. 

 However, Chelsea rallied before the period ended, going on a 6-0 spurt before the buzzer to enter the intermission with a 24-22 lead in front of the packed house.

“We really settled for the three-point shot and it hurt us,” said Leary of his team’s missed opportunities. The Patriots, normally a very good three-point shooting team, made just 3-of-18 from beyond the arc in the first half.

“We had the size advantage, but did not look inside enough to take advantage,” Leary added.

The pace on offense picked up for both teams to start the third period. Chelsea scored the first eight points of the quarter to go up by 10.

Leary called a propitious timeout and Revere responded, counterattacking with a 10-point run of their own to bring the contest back to level at 34-34 at the mid-point of the third quarter.

Leading the Revere comeback were Lithgow, who made another three-pointer; Day, who made some tough shots in the paint; and junior forward Calvin Boudreau (four points, five rebounds), who hit for two baskets, including a buzzer-beater to end the third.

However, the Patriots trailed, 43-39, entering the final eight minutes and Chelsea started the fourth quarter hot again, pushed their lead to 49-41 with 6:02 remaining.

Leary called another timeout to regroup and the Patriots threatened again to come back after Raduazzo and Capozzi both sank three-pointers to trim the Chelsea lead to 52-47 with just over four minutes remaining.

However, the rematch between the fierce rivals would prove to belong to the Red Devils, who combined  some hot outside shooting with timely free throws down the stretch to claim a 66-52 victory.

“We competed hard,” said Leary. “Chelsea averages around 80 points per game, so I was proud of our defense in the first half, holding them to just 24 points. We just did not finish and make shots early and it hurt us.”

Revere, now 5-5 on the season, will host non-league rival Wakefield today (Wednesday) at the Merullo Fieldhouse at RHS. The  opening tip is set for 7 p.m.. The Patriots will play at Everett this coming Tuesday.

RHS hockey hosts Bedford this evening

The Revere High hockey team will host non-league rival Bedford this evening (Wednesday) at Cronin Rink. The opening face-off is set for 6:30. 

Coach Joe Ciccarello and his crew then will entertain Northeast Regional on Saturday wth a 5 p.m. face-off at Cronin and host Nashoba on Monday at 4p.m.

The Patriots dropped a 5-2 decision to Norton last Wednesday in their only contest of the past week. They had been scheduled to face Nashoba Tech on Saturday, but that encounter was moved to this Monday.

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