Cunha Captures 600 at Speed Classic Meet; El Asri Takes Fifth in 300
Revere track star JV Cunha outraced the field to capture first place in the 600 meter dash at the Speed Classic held Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.
JV’s clocking of 1:25.73 edged-second place finisher Luke Boothroyd of Hopkinton by 0.27 among the field of 120 runners. Both Cunha and Boothroyd were far ahead of the rest of the competition, with the third-place boy clocking in at 1:28.43, a gap of 2.7 seconds behind Cunha’s winning time.
Patriot Sami El-Asri also turned in an outstanding Speed performance, bringing home a fifth place medal in the 300 dash with a time of 37.47 among a field of 150 competitors.
Isaiah DeCrosta sped to a ninth place finish in the 55 meter hurdles in 8.75 and teammate Javan Close took 16th place in 9.00.
Davi Barreto also turned in an excellent performance, finishing in 10th place among a field of 219 sprinters in the 55 meter dash in a time of 6.95. Teammate Allen Hou came across the line in 31st position with a sprint of 7.18.
The Patriots’ 4 x 200 relay quartet grabbed ninth place with a clocking of 1:39.93.
On the girls’ side, Kyra Delaney excelled in two events, finishing 20th (among a field of 226 competitors) in the 55 dash in 8.02 and taking 33rd in the 300 dash (among a field of more than 200 entrants) with a clocking of 46.5.
Sophomore Liv Yuong also turned in an outstanding performance in the 55 hurdles with a time of 10.38, which was good for 20th spot among the field of 81.
Yuong Wins Two Events To Pace RHS Track Girls in Win
The RHS girls kicked off their 2023 season in fine fashion with a victory over Greater Boston League rival Everett, 49-36, last Wednesday at the Merullo Fieldhouse.
“Everett has a lot of runners and great depth on their team, so it was definitely a tough team to start the season against,” said RHS head coach Racquel MacDonald. “I’m really proud of how the girls stepped up.”
Sophomore Liv Yuong had a huge meet with two first-place finishes. Liv won the high jump with a personal record (PR) leap of 5′-1″, a performance that tied the Revere school indoor record that also qualified Liv for the Rising Stars portion of the New Balance Indoor National Meet to be held in March.
Yuong finished off the meet with another first place finish in the 50 yard hurdles with a big PR from last season of 8.3 seconds.
“It’s so impressive to see how well Liv’s competing this early in the season,” said MacDonald. “It’s truly a testament not only to her talent, but also to her excellent work ethic.”
Senior captain Kyra Delaney also turned in a superb first meet, speeding to first place in the 50 yard dash with a time of 6.8.
“This is a new event for Kyra, but I think this shows how versatile she is as a runner,” said MacDonald. “She will be able to bounce back and forth between the 300m and 50yd/55m dash seamlessly throughout the season. “
Kyra also ran the first leg of the winning 4 x 400 relay team, setting the pace for a winning conclusion to the meet for the Revere team.
Other first-place finishers for the Lady Patriots included Yasmin Riazi in the 600m (2:11.8), Alannah Burke in the 1000m (3:40.3), Olivia Rupp in the one mile (6:41.2), and Daniela Santana Baez in the two-mile (17:28.1).
The 4 x 400 relay team of Delaney, Rupp, Reyhan Bensadok, and Danni Hope Randall won their race in a clocking of 5:10.00, 10 seconds ahead of Everett.
Second-place performers who added three points to the Revere total included Rania Hamdani in the 300m (54.6 seconds) and Douaa Elkawakibi in the two mile (18:02.7).
Contributing single points with third place efforts were Yara Belguendouz in the 50 yard hurdles (9.1 seconds), Giselle Salvador in the 50 yard dash (7.1 seconds), Reyhan Bensadok in the 300m (56.5), and Rania Abdelhannane in the mile (7:33.6).
“After seeing how strong and fast everyone looked during this first meet, I know we’re set up for a strong season,” noted MacDonald. “We’re already looking ahead to our next meet versus Somerville.”
The Lady Patriots will meet Somerville today (Wednesday) and will host Lynn Classical next Wednesday.
RHS Boys Bounce Back From OT Loss
The Revere High basketball team opened its season last Tuesday before an electric, capacity crowd at Merullo Fieldhouse to watch the Patriots take on the Crimson Tide of Everett, the defending Greater Boston League champion.
Some early-game jitters for the inexperienced Patriots were evident from the start, as Everett jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Revere senior captains Vincent Nichols and Sal DeAngelis made consecutive driving layups, assisted by sophomore guard Ethan Day (2 points, 3 assists), to cut into the Crimson Tide lead, and then senior captain Vinny Vu hit a nice floater in the lane to end the first quarter on a Revere spurt to leave the gap at 20-10 in favor of Everett.
The second quarter went much better for the home Patriots, as they settled down from their early nerves. Senior captain Alejandro Hincapie (12 points, 5 assists) knocked down an open three-point shot and had a nice strong take to the basket. Senior captain and returning GBL All-star Domenic Boudreau (who had a nice double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds) made a basket plus the foul and Nichols had a nice offensive rebound and put-back to make it 25-21 Everett with 3:50 remaining in the half.
Everett would use a timeout and then put together a run of their own, pushing their lead back up to 10 points with just over two minutes remaining before the intermission. Revere would then get a spark off the bench from junior forward Andrew Leone (7 points, 6 rebounds) and sophomore forward Erick Mayorga (5 points), who each knocked down open three-pointers.
Mayorga added another layup, pulling the Patriots within six points at halftime, 35-29.
The third quarter went just like the first quarter with the visiting Crimson Tide extending their defensive pressure and Revere unable to get any offense going. Everett controlled the quarter and held Revere to just eight points in the period to move out to a 50-37 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.
“We really challenged these guys in between the third and fourth quarter,” said RHS head coach David Leary. “We just needed to play tougher on defense and on the boards so that we could create opportunities on offense.”
The strategy soon paid dividends. On the defensive end, the Patriots held Everett to just seven points in the fourth quarter and at the other end, Nichols (who finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds) started up the offense with a smooth move to the basket and a pair of free throws.
Boudreau, playing in his first game back from a broken collarbone he suffered during the football season, found his three-point stroke and so too did his senior counterpart Hincapie, to help Revere seize the momentum.
Everett was clinging to a 53-51 lead with 1:47 to play and after a Revere steal, senior guard DeAngelis was fouled and stepped up to make two free throws to knot the game at 53-53. The game was very physical down the stretch and both teams went back and forth making free throws, but Everett had taken a slim, one-point lead 57-56 with just a few seconds remaining when Revere junior forward Andrew Leone, cool under pressure, made his second free throw to send the game into overtime knotted at 57-57.
The OT session did not go as planned for the Patriots, as the bigger, more experienced Tide team executed better down the stretch, making all six of their free throws in the extra frame to hold off Revere for the 63-60 finale.
Despite the final outcome, Leary and his staff were proud of the fierce level of competitiveness exhibited by the Patriots.
“We did not know what to expect, being opening night and going up against a very good team (Everett is a pre-season top 20 team in the Herald and Globe), but our guys battled all night and did not quit,” said Leary. “It’s definitely something to build on and it was a great atmosphere to play in. It was nice to have our fans back!”
After the tough overtime loss to Everett, the Patriots looked to bounce back three nights later when they hosted another GBL rival, the Highlanders from Somerville.
The Patriots jumped out to an early lead behind their pressure defense and their senior captains. Nichols (6 points, 7 rebounds) and DeAngelis (6 points) got the home team going, and Vu and Hincapie (9 points, 6 steals) also added baskets during the early onslaught, boosting Revere to a 16-5 lead at the first buzzer.
The second quarter proved more of the same. Boudreau (19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) drilled a pair of treys and Hincapie continued to be a pest, applying pressure to the Somerville offense.
Junior forwards Luke Ellis and Andrew Leone also chipped in with a basket apiece to help Revere increase its lead to 31-16 at the intermission.
The third quarter belonged to Boudreau, who scored 12 of the Patriots’ 14 points in the frame, while the Patriots’ swarming defense continued to make it tough on Somerville to get any offense going.
Revere held a commanding 45-20 advantage heading into the last quarter. Sophomore guard Day had a nice steal and layup for Revere and senior guard Maykin Funez-Gonzalez scored his first four points of the season to help the Patriots secure the victory, 53-35.
“We were not as sharp tonight as we were in the opener, but our defense fueled us and allowed us to build the lead,” noted Leary. “I think these guys wanted to bounce back after the tough loss the other night and we got contributions from across the roster.”
Leady and his crew were scheduled to host Lynn Classical last night (Tuesday) and will travel to the Edward M. Kennedy School of Health tomorrow (Thursday).
The boys will be playing in the David Green Memorial Holiday Tournament at Winthrop High School against East Boston next Wednesday, December 28, at noon. The consolation or championship game will be the next day, Thursda,y December 29, against either Winthrop or Saugus.
RHS girls basketball tops Somerville, 56-29
The Revere High girls basketball team rebounded from a season-opening loss at Everett last Tuesday to post a 56-29 victory at Somerville last Thursday.
In the season-opener against a strong Everett team, the Lady Crimson Tide pulled after the intermission away thanks to a huge third quarter. The final score was 46-28.
Junior captain Haley Belloise (12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals, turned in a fine all-around effort at both ends of the floor.
“It was a rocky start and we’re still searching for our identity on the court,” noted RHS head coach Chris Porrazzo.
“We are working together to figure out our chemistry,†added junior captain Bella Stamatopoulos.
However, two nights later, the Lady Patriots put it all together at Somerville to post their first win of the 2023 season.
Belloise led the Lady Patriots in the scoring department with 16 points. Teammate Belma Velic also reached double figures with 13 points and Stamatopoulos added eight.
“We were able to get back on track against Somerville,” said Porrazzo. “Even though we won, we noticed a lot of things on the game film that we need to get better at. Our best basketball is ahead of us and we are going to keep working hard every day to get better.”
Porrazzo and his crew were scheduled to take on Greater Boston League rival Lynn Classical last night and then will play in the Milton High Holiday Tournament during the vacation week.
 RHS Boys Track Opens With 54–32 Win
The Revere High boys indoor track & field team gave their new head coach, David Fleminmg, an early Christmas present with a 54-32 victory over Greater Boston League rival Everett in the season-opener last Wednesday at the Merullo Fieldhouse. The Patriots captured seven of the nine individual events and went 1-2 in five of them. The first-place finishers for Revere were: Isaiah Decrosta in the hurdles in 7.3; Ahmend Bellemsieh in the 600 in 1:42.8; JV Cunha in the 1000 in 3:07.3; Kenan Batic in the mile in 5:36.2; Youness Chahid in the two-mile in 13:18.8; Richard Vilme in the high jump with a leap of 5′-8″; and Gabriel Santana in the shot-put with a throw of 35′-3.35″. Scoring three points for the Patriots with second-place performances were: Javan Close in the hurdes in 7.8; Allen Hou in the 50 yard dash in 6.2; Zaraius Bilimoria in the mile in 5:40.3; Brayden Shanley in the two-mile in 13:22.5;Â and Felipe Maia in the shot-put with a throw of 35′-3″. Close tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5′-2″. Adding single points with third-place efforts were Randi Rodriguez in the 300 dash in 43.5 and Besmir Collaku in the 1000 in 3:34.3. Fleming and his crew are scheduled to meet GBL rival Somerville today (Wednesday) and will host GBL foe Lynn Classical next Wednesday.