Sports: Volleyball Rebounds for First Win, Girls Swimming Tested by Melrose

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Photo: Jane Mahon serving.

Volleyball stones Stoneham, 3-0, to even season

After meeting one of the toughest opponents it will see this season in its opener, Belmont High Volleyball rebounded to grab its first victory of the young season, downing Stoneham 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-21) in a warm Wenner Field House on Friday, Sept. 9.

With a strong defense digging numerous balls from the floor, Belmont was the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces including one of the more bizarre incidents you’ll see on the court. During the third set, after clawing back from nearly a ten point deficit to take a slim 20-19 point lead, a Stoneham player put the ball into her net, causing the Belmont players to turn to celebrate the point.

But the ball was still in play and a Stoneham player hit the ball over to the Marauders’ side where it hit sophomore Jane Mahon on her head. Realizing the situation, Belmont’s Katrena Daldalian stuck the ball over to Stoneham which lost the point due to a returning error. 

Head Coach Jen Couture named Daldalian the player of the match “for helping to shift the momentum” in the critical third, as she started serving at 12-18 and brought us to 21-19.

“It was very clutch,” said Couture, who added that Mahon also had a great match hitting 17 for 18 with 9 kills.

Belmont is 1-1 and will take on Wilmington away on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Depth propels swimming to victory over a strong Melrose squad

Anyone who thought the first meet of the year for Belmont’s swimmers against Melrose High School would be a cakewalk has not been following the local swimming scene lately. The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinter Samantha D’Alessan and a slew of good relays.

The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinting champ Samantha D’Alessandro and a slew of good relays.

“I knew we had to be on our toes to get by this team. They have wonderful girls and great coaches,” said Belmont’s long time head coach Ev Crosscup.

With the help of a sophomore stalwart and surprising depth in several events, Belmont was able to secure a hard-won victory, 90-75, with scoring stopped with two events remaining. 

Taking over from recently graduated swimming star Jessie Blake-West – she is competing for Brown this year – is 10th grader Nicole Kalavantis, who came off three state championship swims last year. And the sophomore picked up where she left off, powering through some very impressive times this early in the season, winning the 200 and 500 yard free with ease (2:05.57  and 5:37.07) and anchored the 200 medley and the 4×400 free relays to victories.

The Marauders’ deep bench was seen in events such as the 200 individual medley as Dervla Moore-Frederick, Angela Li and Molly Thomas finished 2, 3 and 4 to secure 9 of 16 points while Sophie Butte, Stephanie Zhang and Lulu November performed the same feat in the 100 free with Butte chomping at D’Alessandro’s heels coming home in 58.68. 

Butte came back to finish second in the 100 backstroke as Molly Thomas secured first in 1:05.66 with Moore-Frederick winning the 100 breaststroke. 

“It was a nice victory because it shows that I have some talent to work with this season,” said Crosscup.

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Bright Road’s Milo Substitutes Lemonade For Cookies

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Photo: Service with a smile.

Now, you would think that on a hot summer Friday, Sept. 9 that the best service a young entrepreneur could provide the public is to set up a lemonade stand and rake in the quarters.

But in a tasty counterintuitive marketing strategy, young Milo of Bright Road thought, “Who doesn’t like freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies?” 

So with a little help, Milo made a batch and sold them for two-bits to eager editors and people stepping off the MBTA bus stop near his house. 

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League of Women Voters/Warrant Committee Holding Minuteman Forum Monday Night

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Photo: Michael Libenson

The public is invited to attend a Forum on the Minuteman Regional Career and Technical High School Election Warrant, this evening, Monday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

The forum will be moderated by Michael Widmer, Belmont Town Moderator

The panelists will be:

  • ‘Yes’  John Herzog
  • ‘No’  Michael Libenson

Members of the Warrant Committee, the Board of Selectmen, and Belmont School Committee; and the Town Administrator, the Town Treasurer, the Town Clerk, Superintendent of Belmont Schools, Minuteman Superintendent, and Belmont Representative to the Minuteman School Committee, Jack Weiss, have been invited to answer questions.

The evening is co-sponsored by the Belmont Warrant Committee and the Belmont LWV Education Fund.

Sports: Boys’ Soccer Resilient In Fight To Tie Stoneham ‘At The Death’

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Photo: Belmont’s Simon Sivers’ shot alludes Stoneham’s goalie Caio Barbosa for the tying goal.

The term “at the death” is the very British way of meaning the dying moment of an event, popularly used in sports matches.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, Belmont High Boys’ Soccer was attempting to breath a little life into the final minute of its match with Stoneham High at Harris Field. Despite having the best chances throughout the game – including a penalty kick (missed) and hitting the wood work in both halves – Belmont was preparing to leave the field with a loss, down 2-1 with less than a minute remaining.

As Belmont continued pressing, a last glimmer of light came to the Marauders in the form of a penalty at the left edge of the box. The resulting free kick “at the death” was directed to the feet of senior midfielder Simon Sivers who roped the ball beyond the hands of Stoneham keeper Caio Barbosa high into the back of the net to insure a 2-2 tie, keeping Belmont undefeated after two games of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane, “the biggest positive from this game is the resilientcy the team showed” especially after the Spartans’ Giovanni DeVargas scored his second goal midway through the final half on Stoneham’s only scoring chance in the second 40 minutes.

“They let themselves be disappointed for like 30 seconds before becoming composed again … and continued to work to salvage something which is something we can build off for the rest of the season,” he said. 

After going down 1-0 midway in the first, Belmont used some pretty combination passing to control the game and tempo. The Marauders finally broke through 17 minutes into the second half when senior captain Daron Hamparian pounced on the rebound of a shot from fellow senior Luckson Danbo to power a shot by Barbosa from six meters out.

Marauders take opener vs. Melrose

The weekend tie came after Belmont won its opener, 1-0, over Melrose on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Harris Field on what is an early candidate for goal of the year. With less than two minutes left to play in the first half, sophomore midfield John Campbell took a high pass in traffic about 15 meters out of goal, turned in one movement and struck ball in the air where it cleared the Red Raider’s goalkeeper before curling in. 

“I got the ball and wanted to go for the corner but it went straight at the [keeper]. But it was high enough to clear him before dipping into [the net],” said Campbell scoring his first varsity goal in his first varsity game.

Bisceglia-Kane said he was proud of the team as they worked on holding each other accountable throughout the game , pointing to Danbo as being the best player on the field.

“He’s really composed. There’s no sense of being anxious on the ball. He’s alway composed, calm and collected and makes the right decision,” said Bisceglia-Kane.

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Sports: Allard Lead Belmont Girls’ To Late Win At Stoneham, Now 2-0

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Photo: A happy Belmont team swarm Carey Allard after the junior scored the winning goal at Stoneham.

Give Carey Allard an inch … well, you know the rest.

Belmont wins.

The junior all-star forward used a moment of indecision by Stoneham defender Mari Avola who had dogged her successfully for 74 minutes, charging by her using track sprinter speed to break alone against Stoneham’s keeper. The Division 1 commit quickly slipped the ball into the left side of the netting to give Belmont a 1-0 win on a warm, humid Saturday afternoon, Sept. 10, keeping the Marauders’ perfect after its first two games.

On Thursday, Sept. 8, Belmont opened the season with a 5-1 win at Melrose with Allard scoring Belmont’s first four goals of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Paul Graham, the team’s performance at Stoneham was “just good enough for us to win.”

“Something always happens on this field,” said Graham of the grass surface that is noticeably narrow.

“I’ve been 22-0, and I can only win 1-0 here. I don’t know what it is,” he said.

“Thank goodness we have Allard. She’s a difference maker,” he said.

But for much of the match, Allard could not shake her shadow Avola who played Belmont’s main scoring threat tight and physical including a yellow card Avola picked up with 10 minutes remaining in the game. While Belmont did have its chances – junior Emily Duffy breakaway in the second half was parried away as well as a post being hit – the team did not dominate the game as it did against Melrose.

Stoneham’s pressure put Belmont’s midfield and defense on the back heel for portions of the match especially in the second half, as Stoneham hit the crossbar and narrowly missed the post on a header midway through the half. The one shot the Spartans had within the box was stopped by senior goalkeeper Georgia Parsons who recorded her first clean sheet this season.

With both sides having chances in the final minutes, it was likely the first goal by either team would be the winner. After a threat by Stoneham was kicked downfield by sophomore forward Ella Gagnon, it was time for Allard to make her mark on the game.

“Ella played a great ball, and I saw that [Avola] was getting in front of me, so I just went with her and then cut her off,” said Allard, who lost her voice after the game.

Allard said her scoring prowess is due to her “teammates playing me great passes. I’m just the one who finishes them for goals.”

Allard will need to be at her best as Belmont meet ranked Wilmington at home on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.

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One in Ten Took the Time to Vote in Party Primaries

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Photo: The votes are counted.

Approximately one in ten registered voters took out primary ballots in Belmont Thursday, Sept. 8, as turnout of light everywhere as the state held party primaries elections.

And could you blame those who stayed home? If you were a Republican, Green or United Independent party member, your ballot consisted of no one to vote for. That’s right, no one ran from the parties for US Representitive, State Senate and House, General Council and any other position. There was only an opportunity to write-in potential office holders.

And while not as bleak, the Democratic ballot was nearly as sparse. With the exception of two contested races – Middlesex Sheriff and the Governors Council – all other ses s were an office holder against no challenger. 

In the pair of contested Democratic races, the incumbents came out on top in Belmont as they did in their races district and county wide.

For Middlesex Sheriff

  • Peter Koutoujian          1,358
  • Barry Kelleher                 200

Governors Council

  • Marilyn Petitto Devaney  711
  • William Humphrey          507
  • Peter Georgian                  335

With 98 percent of the precincts reporting, Devaney retained her seat on the council garnering 12,751 votes (48 percent) to Humphrey’s 7,795 (30 percent) with Georgiou trailing in third with 5,834 votes (22 percent). 

Planning Board OKs Cushing Village Construction Extension

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Photo: The Cushing Village site.

The Belmont Planning Board welcomed to its Tuesday, Sept. 6 meeting the representative of the new owner of the proposed Cushing Village development with a slight caveat.

Don’t come back!

In reality, the board wasn’t so tactless or dismissive. Rather, the members explained to Bill Lovett – a senior development manager at Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living division which will develop the $80 million project that includes 115 units of rental housing, 38,000 sq.-ft. of retail and approximately 200 parking spaces – that he shouldn’t expect the board to approve any additional time extensions that would further delay the building the long-delayed project.

After the warning had been sent, the board unanimously supported Toll Brothers request to give the Pennsylvania-based home builder a seven-month extension of the Special Permit from December to July 2017.

(The issuance of the Special Permit allows a developer to begin construction on the site at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road in the heart of Cushing Square.)

The Planning Board’s directive is similar to the message Lovett received from the Selectmen which agreed to Toll’s request to extend the separate purchase and sale agreement of the town-owned municipal parking lot adjacent Trapelo and Williston roads.

When asked by Board member Charles Clark if Toll Brothers is likely to buy the car park site and begin construction by Dec. 31, Lovett agreed that was a possibility.

So why then, Clark pondered, is an extension of seven months for the Special Permit being required by Toll Brothers?

Lovett said while it is indeed possible that the building could commence by the end of the year, it would be an unlikely to actually commit to that timeframe because the structure’s foundation will be “complicated” to build as it sits below the ground water level and will also host the garage. Lovett said the earliest likely date for construction to begin on Cushing Village is late Spring of 2017.

And while Clark suggested providing the developer with half the number of months requested in an attempt to move the project forward, Lovett stated Toll Brothers request for the full seven months was calculated relying on the firm’s due diligence formula, adding a margin of safety for any unforeseen complications that would force a delay in construction.

A long time from the start

Clark retorted that he remembers sitting in the same room more than three years ago in 2013 approving the Special Permit. This latest delay will likely move back the completion date of Cushing Village to mid-2019.

“Six years is a long time [for a project such as this],” he commented.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board also brought up one of the most significant issues facing developers building on older commercial sites; ground contamination.

Quired by the Planning Board’s Barbara Fiacco, Lovett said the land is contaminated to the point where it would need to be remediated. The underground garage will be built on the former site of an old dry cleaner which used organic compounds such as perchloroethylene likely seeped into the surrounding soil and groundwater.

But Lovett said while Toll Brothers doesn’t know “what exactly is going to happen … with the remediation of the soil” and that some unanticipated finds could delay the “physical construction of the site,” he said the request for a delay in the Special Permit is not due to any soil contamination.

Lovett said the provisions of the Special Permit – allowing the construction of the development to proceed with the myriad of conditions and restricts to the structure’s bulk, height, and mass which the Planning Board negotiated with the initial development team over an 18 month period of meetings and discussion – will kick in only after the building’s foundation is laid and a plan of action on cleaning out the polluted soil has been taken.

But Fiacco was not sufficiently mollified by Lovett’s explanation.

“But I still don’t have a comfort level that you’re not going to be back here asking for further extensions in light of environmental issues,” she said.

Lovett said it’s likely the soil will be removed from the site “as quickly as we can” to move forward.

“It’s in the best interest” of Toll Brothers to move forward on the site, he added.

Fiacco ended her comments by telling Lovett the firm should decide early on what remediation and construction solutions they will use rather than be reactive to any problems it may encounter.

“I want to impress on you to get all your ducks in a row … so this project can go forward, and we can see something other than a hole in the ground,” she said.

This Daye Helps Students, Parents Navigate Safely to School

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Photo: Jackie Daye, Wellington’s well-loved crossing guard. 

It may have been a rainy opening of the Belmont school year on Wednesday, Sept. 7, but for Jacqueline Daye, it was nothing but sunny greetings to everyone crossing the roads heading to the Roger Wellington Elementary School on Orchard Street.

A crossing guard employed by the town, the new school year is a return to the corner of Common and Orchard where Daye hold forth.

“Hi Jackie!” said a child, as Daye moves into traffic, halting cars and trucks with her handheld “stop” sign at the ready.

“Good morning! Welcome back, guys!”

“Hello Jackie. How was your summer,” asked a parent.

“It was great. I’m glad to be back.”

Small in stature, Daye’s easy smile and warm disposition can brighten a particularly gloom day before the students enter the classroom. From September to June, in rain, the heat and snow and on those perfect mornings and afternoons that interchange throughout the year, Daye is a constant in the Wellington community.

“I never miss a day of work,” she said. “My doctor said not to.”

For Daye, the best part of the job is “meeting the kids and the families who are excellent.”

“I meet a lot of people because of this job,” she said.

“I’m well loved around here,” Daye commented, with a big laugh.

And, joking aside, she is.

“Jackie is just about the most amazing crossing guard ever. She’s the best,” said Stacey Conroy, treking though the rain with her children.

“She remembers everybody, she welcomes us everyday. We’d be lost without her,” said the Bay State Road resident. 

Daye is one of 16 crossing guards hired and supervised by the Belmont Police who work approximately 15 hours a week allowing students, parents and residents to make their way safely across some of the busiest streets in town.

And when Daye moves out into the roadway, it’s all business. Hands outstretched, she looks at the traffic and stops it with a flash of her stop sign. On this first day, a vehicle heading down Common to Belmont Center had inched over into the crosswalk, eager – maybe too eager – to continue his commute, using his horn in an attempt to persuade Daye to let him through.

Daye would have none of that conduct, keeping her arm outstretched with her “stop” sign in the driver’s direction accompanied with a stern look. He didn’t honk a second time.

“Ugh! Can you believe that?” a parent told Daye, who just shook her head.

“Let’s all be safe,” said Daye, then her smile returned as she waves back at a student who called out, “Hi Jackie!”

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Election Day in Belmont: State Party Primaries

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Photo: At the polls.

Yes, it may not be the traditional Tuesday but for this year, Thursday, Sept. 8, is the date for the Massachusetts Party Primary Election.

(The reason for the day change is due to the first Tuesday in September being just one day from the Labor Day holiday)

Polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Resident may vote in the party’s primary only if they are enrolled in one of the four political parties: Democratic, Republican, Green Rainbow and United Independent. Enrollment in a political party does not affect your right to vote in the general election. In the general election, all voters receive the same ballot and vote for the candidate of their choice, regardless of party enrollment.

If you have chosen “Unenrolled” on the voter registration form, you may still vote in state and presidential primaries by choosing a party ballot and will remain unenrolled, which is commonly reffered to as “independent.”

In addition to the choice of four political parties listed above and unenrolled, there are also certain legal political designations in which you can enroll. If you enroll in any political designations you may still vote in the state and presidential primaries.

Candidates for election

It’s slim pickings as most races are either uncontested or no one is running for the position. There is a pair of races in the Democratic primary: for sheriff and Governor’s Councl. See the party’s ballot here.

In the most interesting race, two decade incumbent Marilyn Devaney of Watertown will attempt to remain on the Governor’s Council for a ninth term against a young, energenic William Humphrey of Newton who has been crisscrossing the district, knocking on thousands of doors and using a crew of equally young supporters to get the word out. Don’t be suprised if Humphrey takes this seat due to the sweat equity he’s put in the race.

Polling Places

For voting purposes, Belmont is divided into eight voting precincts, located as follows:

  • Precinct 1 – Belmont Memorial Library, Assembly Room, 336 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 2 – Belmont Town Hall, Selectmen’s Room, 455 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 3 – Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 4 – Daniel Butler School, Gymnasium, 90 White St.
  • Precinct 5 – Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 6 – Belmont Fire Headquarters, 299 Trapelo Rd.
  • Precinct 7 – Burbank School, Gymnasium, 266 School St.
  • Precinct 8 – Winn Brook School, Gymnasium, 97 Waterhouse Rd. (Enter from Cross Street)

Please adhere to the posted parking restrictions and use caution to ensure the safety of pedestrians around the voting precincts.

Preview: Belmont High Volleyball ‘Work Hard No Excuses’ [Video]

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Photo: Su Jing Chen (left) and Fiona Martin, co-captains of Belmont’s Girls’ Volleyball team.

Season after season, Belmont High School participates in a wide range of MIAA and club sports, which a majority of students participate. But for the most part, the squads are represented by their records or on the scoreboard.

The Belmontonian will give an opportunity for each team to present their hopes for the fall season ahead. Some are powerhouses; others will be rebuilding. But they all have expectations to build on.

The first team profiled is Girls’ Volleyball which is attempting to rebound from just missing the postseason by a single game and return to the 2014 15-5 team ranked 7th in the Div. 2 North Sectionals.