Win one, they’ll call you a champion. PA Track has been there before. On Saturday, the Andover Boys Track team won Interschols for the fourth year in a row. What do they call you when you win four in a row? A dynasty. Despite vicious competition and the blazing sun, the boys fulfilled the dream they had been training for all season. The field events started early and sent the Blue immediately to work. In the high jump, O’Shea Galan ’04, extremely determined and motivated by teammates and family, took first place, clearling the bar at 6’0”. Tolu Wusu ’04 took second in the long jump with a length of 22’3.5”, eight inches short of St. Pauls’ top athlete, and David Sheldon ’04 took fifth place with a personal best of 21’11”. In the triple jump, Wusu took back his familiar spot at the top. Ranked first in the event by over a foot, Wusu exceeded his entered distance and took home both a medal and the school record for the event. With a huge jump at 46’11.25”, he dealt with his opponents handily, a full 15 inches ahead of second place. Mario Noyola ’06 managed to tie five other athletes for sixth place at 11’0” in the pole vault. In the shot put, Captain Anwell Lanfranco ’04 had a phenomenal set of throws. Lanfranco beat his day’s best by 11 inches, leaving him in second with 50’11.25”. Lanfranco also jumped from seventh to fourth place in the discus. Pat Holkins ’04 was unable to reproduce his unbelievable 164’ throws but held it together despite frustration, managing fourth place with 152’3” in the javelin. In the first running event of the day, the Blue had a solid performance from the 4 x 100m Relay squad. Achieving a new season best, the team took 3rd place with a time of 43.65sec. In other sprints, Galan and Sheldon worked hard together to gain points for Andover. In the 100m, Galan was clocked at 10.97 in the finals, taking home another champion medal. In the 200m, Sheldon had a personal best of 22.61 in his preliminary heat. Galan finished immediately behind at 22.62. However, only Galan could replicate his time. In the finals, he took a close fourth place at 22.74. There were several incredible performances by multiple distance runners as well. Josh Wolfe ’04 was chosen as Athlete of the Meet for his outstanding runs in the 1500m, 800m, and the 4 x 400m relay. In the 1500m, Wolfe faced incredibly aggressive athletes, whom Coach John Rogers called “the most difficult and competitive 1500 crowd we’ve ever seen at Interschols.” However, with Exeter rival Harry Norton slipping up on the last straightaway, Wolfe’s resolve allowed him to slide by Norton’s extended arms into first place, finishing with a time of 4:00.19. Wolfe again displayed his star power in the 800m with teammate Adam Kapor ’04 at his side. Wolfe clocked a first-place time of 1:55.51 while Kapor took fourth with a personal best of 1:59.69. Knef King ’04 played a big part as well, taking second place in the 400m with a time of 50.60. Teammate Kojo Degraft-Hanson ’05 finished fourth in 51.52. Once again, Andover’s victory depended on the 4 x 400m relay team. The Boys had to place above Exeter to win. With this in mind, the four ran lightning-fast legs; their time of 3:25.15 was over 10 seconds faster than Andover’s season best. Coach Callum praised his team afterwards, saying, “These boys ran with such heart! Kojo, Kapor, Wolfe, and Knef each ran personal best relay splits. You couldn’t top off the meet much better than that.”
