Despite a ferocious comeback, Andover Boys Track team fell short to Haverhill 40-55 in this Wednesday’s tri-meet. After losing five of the first six events, Andover came back to place first in four of the last five. Although the Andover girls also fell to Haverhill, both Andover squads triumphed over Wilbraham. Charlie Ganner ’10 kicked off the meet by winning the mile. Eli Howe ’09 finished in third place. Critical team member Breezy Jordan ’09 mirrored the boys’ success earning third place in both the mile and the 1000. Captain Lou Tejada ’08 finished second in the 50-yard dash, just two-one-hundredths of a second from first place. Howe finished second in the 600 by only a second. Alexis Dawkins ’10 overwhelmed the competition by nearly two feet in the long jump, winning with a jump of 16 feet. She continued her successful meet in the 600, finishing inches behind the winner. Frank Pinto ’08 started the comeback with a win in the high jump. Ganner then outpaced two Haverhill runners to win the two-mile. The 300m race was easily the most exciting race of the evening. In the first heat, Captain Lou Tejada ’08 never let go of the lead, and won with a time of 37.42 seconds. In the second heat, Jack Walker ’09 jumped out to an early lead, but ended up losing second place by four-one-hundredths of a second on the last quarter lap. Phil Hofer ’10 finished in first in the 1000m race with a time of 2:36.68. Hofer said, “I wasn’t feeling too good going into the race, so I played it conservative the first four laps… then [in the final laps] I just decided to gun it.” Although the meet was already decided going into the four- by-400 relay, both teams didn’t let up. In the last leg Mide Babatunde ’09 sprinted hard to close a large gap, but Haverhill prevailed to win by three seconds and take the meet. This Saturday, the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational at Harvard, in which a select group of Andover runners will travel to see some of the top college runners in New England. Next Wednesday, Andover will be back at home facing Wilbraham and Tewksbury.
