On Saturday Boys Varsity Track won 14 events in defeating Loomis Chaffee and N.M.H. by a score of 99-49.5-25.5. Among the day’s many highlights was Sean Hamilton ’06 kicking away from his N.M.H. opponent to claim a personal record in the 3000M. On a day which saw every type of event fare well, distance had a particularly successful meet, winning all three events. Andover took first, third, fourth, and fifth in the 1500 with all four of these performances going well under 4:20 (which would be equivalent to a 4:38 mile). The boys also took first and second in the 800, though the times were not very impressive due to wind and lack of competition. The 3000, however, turned out to be the premier distance event of the day. Hamilton and Dave Wilson ’09 again took on N.M.H. post-grad Mike Waters as they had last week at Andover. All three went out fast for the first lap and at 400 meters Waters told everyone nearby that this was going to be a very interesting race. The lap splits were dead on for the most part, the runners hitting about 75 for every lap barring an errant 79 mid-way through. Hamilton and Waters separated from Wilson with 400 to go and began an all-out kick with 200 left. They came around the curve shoulder-to-shoulder, listening to the yells of “H2O” from the N.M.H. competitors camped on the turn. As they roared down the final straight, Hamilton found just enough left and won by the slimmest of margins in 9:19. Wilson also ran a great race, finishing third in 9:26. In the field events, Joe O’Hern ’07 won the disc with a throw of 128 feet and Casey Shannon ’07 won the shot with a throw of 49’6”. In the sprints, Jason Soule ’06 won both the 110 and 300 hurdles, cruising to victory in both. Merzudin Ibric ’06 then won the 400 in a very impressive time of 49.3 seconds but opted out of the 4×4 in order to not aggravate a slight injury. The last event of the day, the 4×400, got out to a good start with Greg Hsu ’06 leading off. After laps from Addison Godine ’07 and Mike Discenza ’09, Soule took the baton for the bell lap. Half-way through, bumping and jostling ensued as the Loomis runner tried to cut in on Soule. Loomis went down hard to the track and during all of this, the N.M.H. runner came up on the outside of Soule and created more bumping, knocking the baton out of Soule’s hand. There was much confusion as to what happened but, regardless, the meet had long before been decided with Andover victorious.
