Winter Track & Field

Boys Track Defeats Exeter to Secure Undefeated Season

Alex Fleury ’20 and William Coogan PEA ’20, a competitor from Phillips Exeter Academy, sprinted neck and neck in the final lap of the one mile run; as the finish line approached, Fleury leaned hard across the line to outrun his competitor by only one one-hundredth of a second with a time of 4:30.70 minutes.

Andover Boys Indoor Track and Field secured a 59-50 home win over Exeter last Saturday, concluding its regular season with an undefeated record of 4-0.

Andover’s victory was comprised of first place finishes in seven different events as well as seven second place rankings.

Alongside his first place finish in the one mile run, Fleury was also able to win the two mile run with a time of 10:32.48.

Fleury was not the only athlete to display a strong performance. Michael McCullom ’18 placed first in the 300-Meter Run as well as the 55-Meter Hurdles, Anjunae Chandran ’18 won the high jump with a height of 5’4”, and Abhinav Tadikonda ’20 won the pole vault with a height of 10’0”.

Beyond individual events, Andover was able to finish the 4×400-Meter relay with a time of 3:36.16 to win first and to secure the overall win at the meet.

Andover/Exeter meets are always exciting and close competitions, according to Coach Jeff Domina.

“Every Andover/Exeter meet is a great competition, [and it] doesn’t matter what the teams look like coming in. It’s always very close. It brings out the best in both teams,” said Coach Domina.

According to Head Coach Rebecca Hession, the annual meet this season was intense because it was also the inaugural A/E meet in the Snyder Center.

“To feel the energy of an Andover/Exeter meet in the Snyder Center for the first time is going to be memorable for everybody who was a part of [today’s meet],” said Coach Hession.

Before the competition, Co-Captain Giacomo Marino ’18 encouraged everyone to push themselves as hard as they could in the final meet, according to Ian Chong ’20 and Kam Saalfrank ’21,
“Our captain, Giacomo [Marino ’18] said that we should leave everything on the track; a lot of it was give it your all, try to do your best,” said Saalfrank.

“Push, push until you can’t, and then keep on pushing,” added Chong.

The Snyder Center has been helpful for the team’s training and stimulating for spectator support during meets in Andover’s first season in new the facility, according to Coach Hession and Coach Sean Hyland.

Coach Hession said, “I think, certainly the space in and of itself, is certainly conducive to training that really helps our athletes improve, that provides an atmosphere that is so fan-friendly.”

“The Cage isn’t quite the facility we have here [in the Snyder Center],” said Coach Hyland.

A select group of athletes will compete in the USATF New England Championships at Harvard University next Sunday. For the rest of the team, the season is over, and many runners are now focusing on the upcoming Spring Season.

Coach Hyland said, “We think of the winter as an opportunity to grow as a team, build strength — all that stuff — and having opportunities to compete. And so, our team is a little banged up, people were sick, but that’s not a worry for us [going into] the spring.”