The boys and girls track teams invaded Harvard’s field house on Sunday and brought their speed with them. In a meet against mostly collegiate athletes Andover’s fittest competitors fared very well. On the boy’s side, Chris Donais ’05, John Freker ’04 and Jon Hillman ’05 led the way in the mile early in the day. The runners were caught slightly off guard at the start, but they were all able to calm their nerves and run impressive times. Donais finished his race in 4:40, a new personal record; Hillman crossed the finish line with a time of 4:44, and Freker, running in a fast heat, maintained focus throughout the race, finishing in 4:49. Captain David Sheldon ‘04, racing the 60 Meter dash, placed 20th overall in a talented field with a time of 7.36 seconds. Brendan McManus ’05 also competed in the 60 meter dash, running an admirable time of 7.48 seconds, faster than several college sprinters. Both Sheldon and McManus returned in the 200 Meter dash. Sheldon, seeded in the same heat as Exeter’s finest sprinter, was beaten on the line by under 2 tenths of a second despite his impressive time of 23.68 seconds. McManus also ran well, finishing in 24.30 seconds. Tolu Wusu ’04 produced a fabulous day of competition. Competing in both the long jump and the triple jump, Wusu brought everything he had at the collegiate competitors. Coach Callum praised Wosu’s spectacular performance, saying, “He’s a very talented track athlete who can compete with the best of them. His 45ft 11.75in jump ranks him 14th in the country among high school triple jumpers and qualifies for Nationals by almost a full one and a half feet. That’s the kind of athlete Tolu is, and he exemplifies the enthusiasm and spirit of our entire team.” Tolu’s third place finish in the triple jump won him a medal in the competition, but he was not quite finished. Wusu took 7th overall in the long jump with a distance of 21’3/4” a mere 2 inches behind Exeter’s best jumper. In the 800 meters, Josh Wolfe ’04, racing unattached since he is not a part of the Andover indoor track program, and Adam Kapor ’04 ran against a talented collegiate field. Wolfe ran superbly, crossing the finish line 5th overall with a time of 1.53.59. With his performance Wolfe improved his national rank to second among high school 800 runners. Kapor also had a fine race, running a time of 2:02. Anwell Lanfranco ’04 heaved the shot an impressive 49’1/4”, a result that won him third place in the high school shot put. The day finally closed with The Distance Medley Relay, an event where a team puts forth one runner for four different distances: 800 meters, 400 meters, 1200 meters, and 1600 meters. The team of Kapor, Kojo Degraft-Hanson ’05, Donais, and Wolfe finished in 11:08 after three of the athletes had competed earlier in the day. The girl’s team, led by Captain Jackie Latina ’04 and distance standout Lissy Robie ’04, shared similar success. Latina started of the afternoon flying in the 60-meter dash. Sprinting to an impressive time of 8.23 seconds, Latina claimed 7th place overall, a noteworthy accomplishment in a meet of such talented college competitors. Sonia DeYoung ’05 also competed in the 60-meter dash for Andover, running 8.70 seconds and placing 15th overall. Both Latina and DeYoung returned for the 200-meter dash, where Captain Latina placed 14th overall with a time of 27.09 seconds and DeYoung sprinted for a time of 28.98, finishing ahead of several collegiate athletes. Junior class long-jump record holder Colleen Thurman ’07, the only Andover girl to compete in the long jump, leaped for a solid distance of 15’3”, placing her 8th overall in the event. Robie, who was recovering from illness earlier in the week, still took home an impressive time of 5:33 while competing against some of the fastest female milers in the country. As Coach Callum said after the meet, “On Sunday, almost everyone improved their marks for the season, if not their personal best. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
