Arielle Filiberti ’07 continued her dominance from the 2006 season, and the Boys B team secured a victory in the first race of the 2007 season. The course was 20 miles long and finished with a steep two-mile climb up to the base of Waterville Valley Ski Area. In the Boys A race, Jonas Allerbeck ’07 placed fifth overall and first for Andover. At the mile ten Alex Green ’07 attacked, putting distance between the pack and himself. When the group caught Green, Andrew Clay ’08 took advantage of the disorganization in the pack and counterattacked. “I was hoping that someone else from Andover would attack after the group caught me,” Green said, “And Clay attacked at exactly the right time.” Clay soloed for about seven miles, but was caught in the last mile of the race by a chase group of about eight riders including Allerbeck and James Krendel Clark ’07. Clay finished second for Andover, but did not finish with the leading group. Green, spent from the early attack, and Clark, who was recovering from a cold, finished behind Clay. “Clay gave it a good go and it was an unfortunate that he got caught,” Coach Henry Wilmer said. “He put in a good effort and made the race interesting.” In the Girls A Race, Andover Captain and National Camp Filiberti placed first, beating another girl from Straton Mountain School in the final sprint. Last year in the same race Filiberti came in first with a margin of a couple of minutes. Filiberti had raced hard over the weekend in professional races and had not really recovered. “I was cramping a lot and did not feel particularly well during the race,” Filiberti said, “When I tried to attack I didn’t really get anywhere. But, that said, I won the race. It was just closer than I wanted.” Lilli Stein ’07 placed fifth followed by Hilary Rich ’09 and Roxy Pierson ’07. In the Boys B Race the Andover team placed first overall. The pack remained intact until the final climb. In the final two hundred yards Walker Washburn ’08, Matt Sternberg ’08 and Mike Discenza ’09 kept with the lead group and placed second, third, and fifth respectively. “I felt pretty good in the final climb, but my timing was off in the final stretch and I got nipped at the line by some other kid,” Washburn said after his second place finish. “Overall, the team put out a good performance for the first race of the season,” Coach Thayer Zaeder said. “The Boys A looks to be very competitive this year and as this race showed the season should be pretty interesting.” The first race of the season was supposed to be last Saturday, but was rescheduled due to rain. The team’s next race is Sunday at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, one of the hillier courses of the season.
