Gemma Stamatopoulos wins 600, sets record
Revere High senior captain Gemma Stamatopoulos brought home a Greater Boston League (GBL) championship in the 600 meter dash at last Thursday’s 2026 GBL Championship Meet that was held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.
In addition to bringing home the GBL title, Gemma’s time of 1:41.74 broke by one second her own school record in the 600m that she had set last year, a clocking that is among the top-50 times in the state.
Gemma also earned a 3rd-place individual medal in the high jump and ran a leg of the first-place 4 x 800 team to score a total of 18.5 points on the night and finish as the Lady Patriots’ top scorer for the meet.
Fellow senior captain Rania Hamdani made it a 1-2 finish for Revere in the 600 with a superb clocking of 1:44.56 (which should qualify Rania for the Division 2 State Meet) to add eight points to the Revere column on the scoresheet.
The Lady Patriots 4 x 800 relay quartet of Stamatopoulos, Emma DeCrosta, Olivia Rupp, and Annalise Rodriguez earned a GBL title, defeating the second-place Somerville relay team by more than seven seconds with their clocking of 11:00.57.
Senior captain Olivia Rupp had an outstanding meet, tallying 12.5 points with a third place in the 2-mile, a fourth place in the 1-mile, and her leg on the winning 4 x 800 relay team.
Emma DeCrosta also was a triple medalist for Revere with sixth-place finishes in both the 1000m and the 1-mile (in a 10-second personal record time of 6:26) and her leg of the winning 4 x 800.
The Lady Patriots dominated the 55m hurdles, with three point-scorers, led by Dayana Ortega with a 2nd-place finish in a personal record (PR) time of 10.05; Basma Sahibi with a 3rd-place in 10.17; and Bianca Rincon with a 6th-place in a PR of 10.96.
Revere also won medals in the two other relays. The 4 x 200 quartet of Jaliyah Manigo, Danni Hope Randall, Zacharania Kalliavas, and Dayana Ortega finished in second place in 1:57.55 and the 4 x 400 foursome of Manigo, Randall, Kalliavas, and Rania Hamdani finished in fourth place in 4:56.15.
Ina Tamizi added Revere’s final two points with a 5th-place in the long jump with a PR leap of 13′-11.25″.
Although Revere did not score any points in the 55m dash, the three Lady Patriot seniors who competed all put up a PR time: Lesly Mendoza (8.23), Jaleeyah Figueroa (8.6), and Jade Dang (8.2).
The Lady Patriots tallied 73 points, to finish in third-place in the team standings, just three points behind second-place Medford. Somerville won the meet with 124 points.
….and Gemma sets another RHS record in the 1000
A number of members of the Revere High girls indoor track and field team took part in the MSTCA’s Last Chance to Qualify Meet on Saturday.
The top highlight for the Lady Patriots was Gemma Stamatopoulos’s new school-record time of 3:08.85 in the 1000m, breaking the previous mark that was set in 2018 by Hannah Fitzpatrick. Gemma now holds four RHS school indoor records — the 400m, 600m, 800m, and 1000m.
Gemma’s 1000m time also qualified her for the National Meet in March, to where she was already headed to compete with the Sprint Medley Relay team.
Rania Hamdani set a personal record in the 300m with a time of 45.13. The 4x200m quartet of Hamdani, Zizi Kalliavas, Stamatopoulos, and Danni Hope Randall hit a season’s best of 1:56, which should solidify their place for the Division 2 State Meet.
RHS boys are GBL champs in five events
The Revere High boys indoor track and field team brought home five first-place medals from last Thursday’s 2026 GBL Championship Meet that was held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.
The Patriots finished in 2nd place overall in the team standings with 83 points, behind 1st place Somerville with 112 points.
“We were disappointed to lose to Somerville after having beaten them in this meet for the past three seasons in a row, but we had some tremendous individual and relay performances,” said RHS head coach David Fleming.
Revere’s individual champions were:
— Edwin Alarcon, who won the 600m dash with a time of 1:26.85. “Edwin ran a strong race,” said Fleming of Alarcon, who this week committed to run track at Worcester State University. “He took the lead at the start of the second lap and never looked back. He’s running in the D-2 state finals on Wednesday. Edwin has been on the team since his freshman year and it’s been amazing to watch his progress. He’s always had the talent and the competitive drive. This year, he’s added a significant degree of toughness. In the past, when he faced adversity on the track, he might’ve backed down. That’s no longer the case as this year his toughness and leadership are at entirely new levels.”
— Oliver Escobar, who won the high jump with a leap of 5’-8”. Oliver was the top individual scorer for the Patriots with 18 points, 10 for his win in the high jump and eight for his 2nd place finish in the 55m dash.
— Bryan Maia, who was the GBL’s undisputed king of the shot-put with a PR throw of 50’-4”, topping 50 feet for the first time and landing almost five feet further than his closest competitor. “That was a huge throw for Brian,” said Fleming. “He’s been trying to get over that 50-foot barrier all season. Now he’s finally done it and the sky’s the limit for what he can do. More importantly to me was the integrity he showed at the meet. The scorer’s table miscommunicated with the event officials at the shot-put. Somehow they had recorded Bryan at 54 feet instead of 50‘-4“. When asked, Brian was honest about his throw. Not everybody would show that type of integrity. He could’ve easily taken the 54-foot throw which would’ve placed him third in the state and got him invited to several invitationals, but he did the right thing, corrected their error, and took the 50’-4” throw. To me, that’s better than if he threw 75 feet.”
The Patriots also took first place in two of the three relay events: The 4 x 400 quartet of Joey Angiulo, Emmanuel Lopera, Amari Miller-Tobey, and Edwin Alarcon won their 1st place medal with a clocking of 3:40.29 and Revere’s 4 x 800 foursome of Diogo Yogi, Thomas Waldron, Kosta Stamatopoulos, and Alarcon won their race with a time of 9:10.97, edging out 2nd place Somerville by 1.59 seconds.
“We knew it was going to be tough to beat Somerville and knew it might come down to the relays,” said Fleming. “Our plan was to try to win all three relays and hope that the 30 total points would carry us to the win. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way.
“In the 4 x 200, Jeremy X had a calf strain and couldn’t run the anchor. His teammates gave him the baton with the lead, but once he got it, he felt his calf seize up and had to step off the track. The thing that impressed me most was how he handled it. He didn’t yell and scream or throw his hands up and make it all about him. He calmly and professionally stepped off the track and acknowledged he couldn’t go,” said Fleming.
“The 4 x 800 relay team ran well together and qualified for the D-2 state meet. Diogo Yogi led off and ran a 2:16, which put us in second place. Tommy Waldron and Kosta Stamatopoulos kept us in it, and Edwin Alarcon anchored us to the win,” Fleming said.
“The 4 x 400 meter relay team ran strong and stuck together as a group,” Fleming continued. “They qualified for the D-2 state championships. I like how this team came together. It’s great to see kids come together from other sports. Joey Angiulo (baseball, football) led off, Emmanuel Lopera (soccer star) contributed in a big way, along with Amari Miller-Tobey (football), a sophomore who ran a tough relay leg despite coming off an injury and who gave us a lead that Edwin Alarcon was not going to give up.”
All of the champions, both individuals and the relayers, earned a spot on the GBL all-star team. In addition, all of the champions (plus the 4 x 200 relay) have qualified by time for the upcoming Division 2 State Meet.
Jeremy X was a major contributor for the Patriots with a 2nd place performance in the 300m dash and a 3rd place finish in the 55m dash to tally 14 points. “In the 300, Jeremy had a great run. He set a new personal record (PR) in 36.60. He went stride for stride with his rival from Everett (Kayshaun Eveillard) and almost tracked him down at the end. He just ran out of track,” said Fleming of the senior, who has been with the program since he was a freshman.
The Patriots dominated the 55m dash, taking four of the top six places, paced by Oliver Escobar in 2nd and Jeremy X in 3rd. Emmanual Lopera grabbed 5th place and Kepler Celamy came in 6th.
“We had four individuals finish in the top six, which is crazy,” said Fleming, “and something that has never happened since I’ve been coaching the team. All four had fast times and three of them were personal records.”
Additional point-scorers for the Patriots were:
— Captain Joey Angiulo (who also plays baseball and football) scored two points with a 5th place in the 300 dash;
— Thomas Waldron added a point to the Revere cause with a 6th place finish in the 1-mile. “Tommy was one of only two sophomores to compete in the mile,” Fleming said of Waldron, who also plays football in baseball. “As always, Tommy ran a tough race. He gets locked in on a goal and just doesn’t give up.”
— Fajr Riazi scored three points with a 4th in the 55m hurdles; and
— Audii Key added a point with a 6th in the 55m hurdles.
Also worth noting was the performance of freshman Kosta Stamatopoulos, who finished just outside the scoring in the 1000 with a 7th place finish, but ran a PR. “Kosta was the only freshman to run in the 1000 at the league meet and has a bright future ahead of him,” noted Fleming.
“We were disappointed with second place, but it’s not about how you win,” Fleming added. “That part’s easy. It’s about how you carry yourself when you lose. This team has a lot to be proud about.”
RHS girls basketball glides past Malden
The Revere High girls basketball team improved to 8-6 on the season with a 50-36 victory at Greater Boston League rival Malden last Tuesday.
Although the Lady Patriots got off to a slow start, trailing 12-7 after the first period, coach Ariana Rivera’s squad closed the gap in the second period to leave matters at a 22-22 deadlock at the half.
Revere continued to maintain its momentum after the intermission, building a lead in the third period that the Lady Patriots maintained to the final buzzer. Sarah Lechheb turned in a fine all-around performance with 12 points, two assists, and five rebounds, as did Addison Ulwick, who also hit for 12 points, made three assists, and brought down eight boards.
The Lady Patriots were scheduled to travel to first-place Somerville yesterday (Tuesday) evening and will host Everett tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 6:00 for a contest that will be highlighted by Senior Night festivities.
They will entertain non-league foes Salem this Friday, Northeast Regional next Monday, Danvers next Tuesday, and Medford next Thursday. All of those home games will tip-off at 6:00.
Revere needs two wins in its final six contests in order to achieve the .500 record that is needed to qualify for the post-season state tournament.
Another tough loss for RHS boys
The Revere High boys basketball team ventured into Boston last week to take on the Beacons of Brooke Charter High School.
The Patriots have been coming up just short in their last few games, but all of those contests were very competitive — and the story stayed the same in this one.
Sophomore guard Charles Dobre got the Revere offense going with two athletic finishes on the fast break and a three-point shot. Senior tri-captain Isaiah Llanos sank a three-pointer from the wing and senior tri-captain Devin Berry had an offensive rebound and put-back.
The Patriots also played very tight defense in the quarter to move out to a 12-8 advantage at the buzzer.
The second period was more of the same from the visiting Patriots, as their defense continued to hold up well. Junior guard Wesley Nunez (seven points) came off the bench to provide two baskets, Dobre made a layup plus the foul and another fast-break layup, while Berry had another strong move to the basket, boosting the Patriots into a 23-18 lead at the intermission.
However, the start of the second half turned out to be completely opposite from the first. Revere head coach David Leary tried multiple different rotations and defenses to try to slow down the surge from Brooke, but it was to no avail. The home team had numerous fast-break lay-ups and began to find their range from the three-point line to snatch the lead and play from ahead.
Senior tri-captain Nick Rupp came off the bench to supply Revere with some energy, some toughness, and some defense, and got himself to the foul line and made a free throw. Berry (15 points, eight rebounds) did all he could to keep the Patriots in the game, scoring seven points in the quarter.
Junior forward Bryan David had a nice put-back bucket and knocked down two free throws, but the damage had been done and Brooke took a 40-35 lead into the final quarter.
Dobre (18 points, four rebounds, three steals) made strong drives to the basket a couple of times and sank three free throws. Junior point guard Chris Recinos had a pull-up jumpshot and Nunez made a lay-up plus the free throw, but the Revere defense continued to allow leak-out baskets for the Beacons.
Junior forward Nathan Brown came in off the bench for Revere and supplied a ton of energy on the glass. Nathan also made one out of his two free throw attempts.
However, the Patriots just could not put together enough stops, despite having played so well on defense in the first half. A trey by Dobre from the top at the final buzzer proved too little, too late and the Patriots dropped another tough one, 55-51. “We were all disappointed at the result,” said Leary of his team’s fourth straight closely-fought defeat.
“We just came out flat in the second half,” Leary continued. “But I give Brooke credit. They made shots and we did nothing to put a stop to it. We are definitely showing signs of growth. We just have to learn how to close games out and start to win some of these close ones. It starts with me having them prepared to come out on the right side of some of these games.
“These kids have played hard all season long, so I hope they keep that same energy for the remainder of our games.” Leary added.
Revere will have a very busy last week of the season. They hosted Somerville last night (Tuesday) for Senior Night night and will travel to Everett tomorrow (Wednesday) night.
The Patriots have a make-up game at Medford this Saturday afternoon at 1:00 and then will close out their season on the road at Northeast Regional on Monday at 3:30 PM.
