Shoulder to shoulder, Basil Alfaro ’18 and Holden Ringer ’17 dashed across the finish line mere millimeters apart from each other to take first and second place, respectively. The two led the Andover Boys Cross Country team to a 21-34 victory against Choate on Saturday with the identical times of 16:37.
Ideal race conditions on Andover’s home course helped the team clinch a decisive victory defined by Alfaro’s and Ringer’s breathtaking finishes.
Ringer said, “I wanted to win the race for [my mom] and [my dad]. On the final downhill part of the course, I thought, all right, it’s all downhill from here. This shouldn’t be that bad. Overall, I was just happy to run.”
Following Alfaro and Ringer, Henry Spritz ’19 snagged fourth place for Andover with a time of 17:29, breaking away and oustripping a Choate runner on the final stretch of the course. Post-Graduate (PG) Pat Dolan ’16 achieved a new Personal Record (PR) on the home course with a time of 17:46, nearly a full minute faster than his old record.
Wrapping up Andover’s fastest finishes, newcomer Nathan Goldthwaite ’18 finished with a time of 18:14. A few seconds later, Noah Belser ’16 achieved a time of 18:23. Both runners managed to overcome tough Choate competition to seal the victory for Andover.
Captain Ralph Skinner ’16 said, “The team did really well overall. [Alfaro], [Ringer] and Sebastian Bishop ’17 all had a really good race. It was at home, so we had a lot of fun racing. Although Choate’s Junior Varsity team was good, we were still able to win the varsity meet. The team keeps getting better and better and I can’t wait for our next race. Everyone’s improving and doing better with each race. So many kids had PR’s.”
Andover will look to breeze by the competition when it takes on both St. Paul’s and Thayer at St. Paul’s this Saturday.
