“Close but no cigar,†or, “Close only counts in horseshoes,†you can choose your proverb for the Revere High boys track team, who fought hard and fought well, but in the end dropped a 45.5 to 40.5 decision to Lynn Classical last week in a meet that was decided in the last event, the 4 x 400 relay.
“We did not expect to be in a position where the meet would be decided in the relay, but some of our team members were not able to come to the meet,†said veteran RHS head coach Jack Mosco. “Our best time in the relay this season had been 4:05 and their best was 4:01, so we knew it would be a tough race. It came down to the wire and our boys gave it all they had, but it wasn’t enough.â€
The Patriots swept three events during the meet, the 600, 1000, and mile, but Classical swept the high jump and took first in the sprint events to set the stage for the 4 x 400 showdown.
In the 600, Francesco Tartaglia took first in 1:41.4, followed by teammates Melvin Mancia in 1:42.2 and Karim Sahila in 1:47.5. Chris Panzini led the trio of Patriots across the line in the 1000 in 3:09.5, followed by Nick DeMarco in 3:10.1 and Luis Morales n 3:22.9. Ariel Pineda took first in the mile in 5:00.3, followed by Bobby Driscoll in 5:19.3 and William Truong in 5:34.1.
In the other events, the Pats went 2-3 in the shotput behind Vito Licata’s toss of 38-4.25 and Armin Katidzic’s throw of 37-5. Revere also went two-three in the two mile, with Brian Collins finishing in 12:13.5 and Ernesto Bonilla in 12:24.9.
Souhil Arachiche grabbed second in the 50 yard dash in 5.7; Paul Rizzo took third in the 50 yard hurdles in 7.9; and John Rich was third in the 600 in 43.3.
Mosco brought along a large contingent to the State Relay Meet that was held Sunday at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The coach lauded the effort of the quartet of Arachiche, Vincent DiChiara, Jose Amaya, and Brandon Bones, who competed in the 4 x 50 dash relay and finished in a fine time of 23.79. “We had been hoping for a time in the 25 second range, but they did a great job to get in the 23s,†said Mosco.
Also competing for Revere at the meet were: the freshman foursome of Christian Ortez, Ben Graciani, E. DiChiara, and Derek Fortuna, who also ran in the 4 x 50 in a time of 26.04; Brahim Razi, John Rich, B. Breng, and Jose Amaya in the 4 x 200 in 1:48.08; Derek Fortuna, Paul Rizzo, Karim Sahila, and Wilmer Cruz in the 4 x 200 in 1:59.37; and Bobby Driscoll, William Truong, Brian Collins, and Anthony Cantone-Heinze in the distance medley in 12:53.15.
In the field events, the trio of Vin DiChiara, Arariche, and Chayton Thy combined for high jumps of 15 feet, three inches. In the long jump, Thy, Dichiara, and Bones amassed a total of 45-7. Licata, Bones, and Katodzic tossed the shotput a combined distance of 104-11.5.
