The Classical indoor track team had its work cut out for it against rival English Monday at Tech, but the boys came away with a 47-39 win, while the girls topped the Bulldogs, 67-19.
It was a tight meet for the boys, but Classical earned first-place finishes in six of the 10 events. Classical’s Chase Buono (38 feet, 7 inches) topped English’s Jacob Miller (32-4) in the shot put, Eli Kalambayi won the 50-yard dash (5.67 seconds), Ivan Melara won the 1000 (3:11), Kevin Durant won the mile (5:09) and Maxwell Gonzalez won the two-mile (12:56). The Rams also swept the 300, with Dajon Wilson (41.8), Oladeji Jolaoso (42.9) and Chauncey Williams (43.2) taking the top three spots.
Juan Avelino was a double-winner for English, taking the high jump (5-10) and the 50 hurdles (7.1). His teammate Abrar Jalal won the 600 (1:35.0) and the Bulldogs also won the 4×400 relay.
For the girls, English’s one first-place finish came in the shot put, as Kahlee Smith-Whelton won with a distance of 28-7. Classical swept the high jump (Jayla Blevins, 4-8; Maysie Jean-Louis, 4-6; Slanny Portorreal, 4-2), the 50 hurdles (Jean-Louis, 8.5; Samantha Anthony, 8.8; Paelro Orelya, 10.0), the 1000 (Sondos Dabash, 3:31.6; Kelly Biv, 3:55.2; Alexis Ferraro, 4:49.5) and the mile (Kenia Mejia, 6:57.7; Angie Fabian, 7:46; Johnna Calder, 7:47).
Portorreal won the 50 (6.7), while Miriam Bamaca won the two-mile (15:38) Rhode Alcindor won the 600 (1:55.7) and Blevins logged her second win of the night in the 300 (51.3).
Both the Classical girls and boys improve to 2-0 and will take on Swampscott next week.
BOYS BASKETBALL
St. Mary’s 58, Williams 37
Jalen Echevarria led the Spartans with 21 points, while Stephen Fama added 10 points and 15 rebounds.
“I’m very pleased with our record to start the season,” St. Mary’s (2-0) coach Dave Brown said. “I like how we’re playing defensively so far, but we have some work to do on offense. With a new group of guys, that’s expected. But at this point in the season, I like where we’re at.”
Marvens Rosirus added eight points in the second quarter, bailing the Spartans out when two of their starters were forced to take early seats with foul trouble.
The Spartans are back in action on Friday night when they host Arlington Catholic.
“I’m hoping we can keep out of foul trouble,” Brown said. “Hopefully we’ll have Lee Pacheco back. He missed the first two games recovering from a football injury and we’re hoping he can come in and give us some minutes.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Williams 54, St. Mary’s 42
The Spartans fell to 1-1 on the season. Pamela Gonzalez led St. Mary’s with a game-high 18 points while Gabby Torres added 11 points.
St. Mary’s held a nine-point lead in the waning minutes of the first half before Williams bridged the gap with a 5-0 spurt.
“Williams is a defending state champion,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall said. “They’re pretty much No. 1 in every state poll that has come out. We played exceptionally well for quite a while. We were up 32-23 towards the end of the first half and made a couple critical errors that enabled them to cut the deficit to four points.”
The Spartans trailed by one, 39-38 after three quarters before Williams sealed the win with an 8-0 run in the fourth.
St. Mary’s visits Arlington Catholic on Friday night.
“Tonight we learned a lot about our team,” Newhall said. “We have some mistakes we have to clean up. We took 31 three-pointers tonight. We have to give Williams credit, they’re a great defensive team. Sometimes you have to take what they give you to beat them. The effort was there but we have to bring the intensity we had tonight on Friday at Arlington Catholic.”