Sports Spring Sports Spring Track & Field

Girls Track and Field Secure NEPSTA Title for Third Year in a Row

After beginning her leg of the 4×100-meter relay at the back of the pack, Co-Captain Fredericka Lucas ’18 closed the gap between her and her competitor and shot out in front, securing a victory along with her relaymates Rachel Chang ’20, Victoria Kadiri ’20, and Isobel Glass ’21 for Andover Girls Track and Field with a time of 49.66 seconds.

Andover carried its success into other events, securing its third consecutive Nepsta Division I title in Interschols with a score of 154 last Saturday, beating Phillips Exeter Academy by 91.5 points and Loomis by 102 points.

Reese Pelletier ’20 said, “The highlight of the meet was the very first track event, the 4×100 where we started off the meet with a very strong win, as our captain Fredericka widened the gap between second place and crossed the finish line with a significant lead ahead of second place which was an encouraging and exciting start to the track events.”

Sadie Cheston-Harris ’20 added, “Girls placed in 16 out of the 17 events which really helped us beat all the teams, especially Exeter, because they were second place. It was really great because it was truly a team effort. Everyone pulled together and everyone pulled through to get the win so it was a really fun meet.”

Throughout the day, the team members battled intermittent rain that made it difficult for many of the field events to compete.

Silvia Alonso Cirbian ’18 said, “I did long jump and it was raining all the way through. Between the long jump and the triple jump it stopped and then when I did the triple jump it started pouring rain again. We couldn’t see anything with the eyes but we swam through it and we got the championship.”

In addition to earning first place, the team also earned new records. Despite the challenging conditions the rain created, Slovenski set a new facility, school, and Nepsta record in the pole vault, clearing 10’10” to win the first event of the day.

Lucas added, “I’d say a big highlight was at the beginning of the meet I was outside… [the announcer] announced that Soph — Sophia Slovenski — had won the [pole vault] and she had set a facility record, which was the perfect way to kick off the meet and from there Soph really got the ball rolling and there more points and more points and more points added up so that was a really great way to set the tone of the meet.”

Serena Liu ’19 said, “What really helped me a lot was really feeding off of the enthusiasm and the successes of everybody else who had performed already because I remember we were second flight for disc and soph had already pole vaulted her 10’10” jump and that really set the tone for the day like Fred said, and really helped us get a good footing and be like ‘yeah this is what we have been training for, and we’re in this together and we’re just going to show how hard we have worked this entire season.’ Just doing it for the team.”

In the hurdles, Maddy Silveira ’20 was the first person to earn a spot in the finals with a personal season record with a time of 16.67 seconds. Tessa Conrardy ’20 joined Silveira in the finals with a time of 15.88 seconds, replacing her own previously-set Lower Record. Conrardy, however, overcame her record yet again in the finals earning a second place finish with a time of 15.69 seconds.

In the 3000-meter run, both Michaela Jones ’18 and Molly MacQueen ’21 set their season records with 10:32.70 and 10:36.00 minute times respectively.

In the long jump, Alonso Cirbian placed second with a 16-01.00 foot jump. She was followed by Kadiri in eighth place. In the triple jump, Melanie Cheung ’20 earned sixth place followed by Alonso Cirbian in ninth place.

In the high jump, Lucas earned third place while Carolina Weatherall ’21 earned seventh place. Slovenski and Liu earned first and second place respectively in the javelin throw.

Alonso Cirbian said, “The atmosphere was incredibly great. You could really feel that it was Interschols. Everyone was hugging each other and congratulating each other and wishing good luck. The team was really tight.”

Cirbian continued, “I remember my favorite moment for me was the four-by-four girls at the end. I was with [Michael Codrington ’18] and Serena and we were cheering on them and they finished and they were smiling so huge and they were with tears in their eyes and I got tears in my eyes too because I was so proud of them. It is such a good feeling.”