Same old story, but a good one: Revere girls track starts strong in the GBL

By Dom Nicastro

The defending Greater Boston League champion Revere girls track team started off the season with a 2-0 record in the GBL after defeating Everett and Medford on Dec. 19 in the season opener. The team beat Everett, 83-10, and topped Medford, 66-27.

Some of the highlights:

• Top scorers for the meet with 14 points each were senior captain Liv Yuong and junior Gemma Stamatopoulos. Yuong took first in the long jump and 55-meter hurdles. Stamatopoulos took first in the 600-meter and two-mile. Each tied for first place (four points each) in the high jump with a jump of 4-8.
• Oliva Rupp scored 10 individual points for the team vs. Everett and eight individual points for the team vs. Medford with a first-place PR in the mile. She came back to get first vs. Everett and second vs. Medford in the 1,000-meter and also was the third leg of the first-place 4×4 team in both meets.
• Senior captain Francoise Kodjo took first in the shotput vs. both Everett and Medford.
• Senior captain Ashley Cabrera Rodriguez took first in the 55-meter dash vs. Everett. Cabrera Rodriguez also took second in the long jump behind Yuong in both meets.
• Junior Rania Hamdani took first vs. Everett and second vs. Medford in the 300-meter. She also was anchor leg of the winning 4×4-meter relay team.
• Junior Basma Sahibi had a huge PR in the 55-meter hurdles and took second in both meets in that event.
• Sophomore Gigi Zierten doubled in the mile and 1,000-meter alongside Rupp and placed second in both vs. Everett (six points) and third in both vs. Medford (two points).

This past weekend, Revere also had a couple girls compete at some invitationals.

MSTCA Holiday Challenge at the New Balance Track (Dec. 28)

• Stamatopoulos ran a lifetime PR in the 600 with a 1:45.01, which was good for 15th place overall. She also tied her PR in the high jump with a jump of 4-10, good enough for 10th place overall. “She looked great in the 600-meter, but it was a packed race, and she got boxed in on the second lap,” Revere coach Racquel Ciambelli-MacDonald said. “I’m confident she would’ve been closer to 1:44 if that hadn’t happened.”
• Rupp ran a 5:58.16 in the mile, good for 17th overall. “It’s great to see her staying consistently below that six-minute mark this whole season,” Ciambelli-MacDonald said. “She has a lot of time before her next race so we will make sure to get in some hard workouts to get closer to 5:40.”
• Cabrera Rodriguez also ran the 55-meter and ran an 8.25.

MSTCA Distance Classic at the Reggie Lewis Center (Dec. 27)

• Gigi Zierten – mile (6.16.24) season PR
• Valeria Sepulveda – 1,000m (3:46.22) lifetime PR
• Caleigh Joyce – shotput (23-11.75) lifetime PR
• Aidah Louaddi – shotput (22-08.00)

Zierten and Joyce will be competing at the Frosh/Soph championship next weekend.