Despite a thrilling win in the 50 Freestyle by Peyton Morss ’10. the Andover Girls Swim Team lost a heartbreaking match-up against a tough Hopkins School’s squad, 99-87. Although Andover lost, many swimmers recorded season best times, making the bittersweet day. Despite pushing such great times, Andover could not match the pace of the top Hopkins’ swimmers. Hopkins took the first race of the day, the 200 Medley Relay, with a time of 1:54.16. Trailing by only two seconds, a team from Andover made up of Theresa Faller ’11, Allie Hall ’10, Annie Glancy ’09, and Lexi Moroney ’11 posted a time of 1:56.21. Hopkins finished first again in the following event, the 200 Freestyle. Coming in a close second place was Kristen Faulkner ’11, who came within one half of a second of the leader with a season best time of 1:59.08. Alanna Waldman ’10 also set a season’s best time in this event with a time of 2:09.18, coming in with a sixth place finish. A season’s best finish for Glancy with a time of 2:18.36 highlighted the 200 IM event for Andover swimming. Glancy came in third place, only three seconds behind the Hopkins Academy leading swimmer. Julianna Reider ’10 also recorded a best time of 2:25.05, coming in at sixth place overall. The 50 Freestyle event gave Andover a chance to gain some ground on Hopkins, as Morss came in first after an exciting race, .3 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Morss finished with a time of 25.49, and Mai Kristofferson ’09, who finished in fourth place, came in with a time of 26.92. The 100 Butterfly proved to be Andover’s most successful event of the day, as three swimmers achieved season’s best times. Glancy finished first with a time of 1:01.74; Celia Lewis ’10 came in with a time of 1:03.62 and finished third and Greta Martin ’09 also recorded a season best with a time of 1:04.14, which earned her a fourth place finish. The next event, the 100 Freestyle, was capped by a second place finish from Morss, who finished with time of 56.07. Moroney ’11 recorded a season’s best time with 57.28, not far behind Morss. The 500 Freestyle yielded more top times for both Andover and Hopkins. Faulkner led Andover and recorded a season best with a second place finish and a time of 5:15.40. Hall followed up in third place with a time of 5:24.45, also a season’s best. In the 200 Freestyle Relay, Hopkins Academy overtook Andover for the first and third place positions, but Andover managed to finish in second and fourth, earning points for PA. The second place team, which was made up of Moroney ’11, Glancy, Faulkner, and Morss, finished with a time of 1:43.93, only .6 seconds away from first place.In the 100 Backstroke, a Hopkins swimmer managed to sneak by Theresa Faller ’11 for first place, finishing just .2 seconds ahead of Faller’s stellar time of 1:02.87, a season best. Eva Simitch Warke ’09 came in third place with a season best time of 1:04.84, improving Andover’s score on the day. In the last two events, the 100 Yard Breaststroke and the 400 Free Relay, Hopkins managed to take the first place spot in both races. However, Andover managed to finish in the second and third place spots in each race. Hall and Tina Kit ’09 placed second and third with times of 1:11.82 and 1:16.48 in the 100 Breaststroke. While it was a disappointing day for Andover, finishing many races within only one second of capturing the first place position, so many season best times demonstrate great improvement from all members of the team. Morss said, “Hopkins is definitely one of our most challenging meets. It can be hard on our team with them because they’re a day school and train with a club team year round. We all did really well, especially with their new fast pool.” Looking forward to the end of the season, Glancy added, “Interschols is going to be a sick meet this year.” Andover will look to respond from the loss on Saturday, February 16, when they travel to Williston Northhampton.
