Leah Adelman ’17 and Jessica Wang ’18 made controlled turns on the last corner and sped to the end of the course, clinching second place in the Girls A race for Andover Cycling at the Exeter Team Time Trial last Saturday.
Adelman said, “Jess is epically strong so I was fighting to stay on her wheel. At one point, we could see a team from Profile School catching up to us, but they ended up crashing out of the race. It’s a technical course so you definitely need to trust your partner.”
The Exeter Team Time Trials were raced in pairs, so all cyclists had to maintain pace with their partners. Co-Captain David Shamritsky ’17 and Isaac Newell ’18 excelled at this format, sprinting to second place in Boys B with a time of 20:11.
Andover’s girl racers placed second and fourth place in the Girls A Race. Elizabeth Holubiak ’18 and Co-Captain Meg Davis ’17 paired together and finished fourth with a time of 22:27, 12 seconds behind Wang and Adelman.
Eric Osband ’19, who placed fourth in Boys C with James Jusuf ’17, said, “There were lots of sharp turns, which tested our tactical abilities. James and I worked well off each other, and completed the course with no crashes.”
Head Coach Thayer Zaeder ’83 wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “Good communication and hard work at practice has been contributing to the success of the team this season… the team has been surprising me too with their hard work. All the pairs raced well and negotiated a very technically challenging course without incident.”
On Wednesday, Andover took on the first endurance race of the season at the Holderness Road Race. The course was mostly uphill, with a strong head wind. Many of Andover’s cyclists won middle-of-the-road finishes. Adelman and Davis placed ninth and 11th place, respectively.
Davis said, “Overall, we were really strong. The pack was completely together until a Profile rider attacked on a flat stretch. We never caught her, but the pack did stick together for the rest of the race [for the most part].”
Shamritsky placed tenth right behind Newell in the Boys B race. Jusuf, Vish Dhar ’19, and Osband placed 12th, 14th, and 19th, respectively, in the Boys C race.
Newell said, “Both David and I had good positioning for most of the race. But David crashed right before the finish and I was struggling to keep up so I finished at the back of the front pack, in 9th. The finishing climb is pretty brutal.”
Holubiak placed tenth in Girls C. Kristy Lam ‘17 and Marieta Rojas ’18 followed close behind, placing 16th and 17th, respectively.
Andover’s next race will be the Profile Team Time Trial on May 11.
