Girls’ squad breaks school record

Published in the May 25, 2018 edition

By JENNIFER GENTILE

MELROSE—The Melrose Red Raider outdoor track teams had some best times and top finishes at the 2018 Middlesex League Championship held at Regis College on May 21.

The Melrose girl’s team finished fourth overall, but first in all Middlesex Freedom teams, thanks in part to a 1-2 sweep in the 100 meter behind the legs of Lucia Seide (first) and Brooke Barriss (second) and Melrose’s 4×100 relay team of Nora Daly, Elsa Bordin, Brooke Barriss and Lucia Seide also swept the field at 51.23. Additionally, Giovana Dos Santos was also dominant as she placed second in the 400 hurdles. 

Melrose’s 4×400 relay team of Holly Moore, Sarah Herron, Sydney Kroon and Giovana Machado placed third and broke the school record with a time of 4:14.61.

LUCIA SEIDE became the Middlesex League Champ in the 100 meter last week at the ML Championship at Regis College. (Donna Larsson photo)

Sarah Herron was 7th in the 400 dash. Alex Cutugno placed 7th in the mile. Lucia Seide was 7th in the long jump. Nora Daley was 5th in the 200 meter. Ciara Smith was 6th in 100 hurdles and teammate Kaiya Thompson had an impressive 17.73 in preliminaries. In the 400 hurdles, freshmen Selah Russell ran nicely at 1:17.36. Ashley Palmer placed third in preliminaries in the 1 mile. Chelsea Otaugna was 10th in shot put and fourth in the discus.  Gabby Smith was 12th in discus. Jocelyn Skane threw a 26-6.5 in the shot put. Marisa Zelton was 12th in the 2 mile and Tara O’Shea 17th. Mikayla Olwert was 3rd in the 800 run and teammate Kate Bidgood 5th. Ahnika Chaharom and Elsa Brodin both jumped just over 14 in the long jump. And Melrose’s 4×800 relay placed 9th and 4×400 relay placed third. 

Boys team are fleet-footed against ML best

Melrose High’s boys’ outdoor track team also muscled their way through the day with some impressive finishes. Steve Stromski had a great run, placing first in his heat with a time of 4:49 in the mile, and Nate Monges placed fourth in the 100 dash with a time of 11.59. 

Melrose’s 4×100 relay team placed fifth with a personal best time of 46.99. Pete Wiesen placed 5th in the discus and Charlie Femino placed 7th in shot put. Liam Rittenburg finished 11th in the 400 hurdles. Those showing nice preliminary runs were Rey Guity and James Talbot (100 dash) Jerry Murphy was 22nd in the 2 mile. In the javelin, Melrose saw good efforts from Jess Gardener and Josh Ventura. 

Both the boy’s and girl’s outdoor teams eagerly anticipate their appearance at the Div. 3 State Finals on May 26 at North Reading High School.  

Among those who will represent Melrose on Saturday (on the girls side) are Lucia Seide, Brooke Barriss, Nora Daly, Sarah Herron, Kate Bidgood, Alex Cutugno, Kaiya Thompson, Ciara Smith, Giovana dos Santos Machado, Elsa Brodin, Chelsea Otaluka. Melrose’ two relay teams will be looking to earn some medal behind the legs of Holly Moore, Sarah Herron, Elsa Brodin, Selah Russell, Sydney Kroon,  Jenna Fracasso, Israa Mussa, Nicole Nzui and Nia Kovacev.