Max Block ’12 exploded off of the start line in the final heat of the annual St. Paul’s skate sprints last Wednesday. Block and Cal Brooks ’11 secured a fantastic finish for the boy’s team, finishing fifth and seventh respectively. The race at St. Paul’s consisted of multiple one kilometer sprints with six skiers in each heat. Each racer had to race three times, first in qualifiers, then semi-finals, then finals. Depending on their finish in their heat of each race, a racer could advance to a faster heat or be demoted to a slower one. Block made his way to the A-final heat, comprised of the best skiers in the league. With his fifth place finish, he opened the scoring for what would be an extremely successful day for Andover’s top three racers. Meanwhile, Brooks won the B-final heat, earning himself seventh place. Ben Ho ’11 finished second in the C-final heat, skating his way to a 14th place finish overall. Coach Robinson said, “Mia [Pecora ’10] had an awesome qualifying race and got into the top 18, so it was a really good day for her.” Once again, Mimi Tanski ’11 led Andover’s Girls squad, skating easily through the first two heats and eventually finishing fifth overall. Tanski said, “The day was kind of hectic, you had to pay attention to what was going on because each person had several races. Also it was a little bit of luck of the draw. You could be unlucky and be put in a heat with really fast people, and end up not moving forward while someone not as fast but in a slower heat did.” Brooks found himself facing this challenge, as the leagues’ first and second best racers were put into his semi-final heat, making it difficult for him to make A-finals. The Saturday before, the team raced in a skate relay at Northfield Mount Herman. The The team was divided into relay teams of two people. Each member of the team skied two loops of 1.8 kilometers, switching off after each loop with their partner. Tanski and Co-Captain Brenna Liponis made up the first team to finish for Andover in the Girls race, earning second place overall. Newcomers Goody Gibbins ‘11 and Kelsey Jamieson ’12 made up the next team to finish for Andover, followed by the relay team of Mia Pecora ’10 and Wesley Meyer ’11. In the absence of strong skier Max Block ’12, Cal Brooks ’11 and Scotty Flemming ’10 stepped up and raced tough competition from Belmont Hill and Mohawk High School to finish third overall. Behind them finished Ho and PJ Blouin ’12 for fifth place. Said Coach Robinson, “That was a fun race just because of the format. It was a pretty nice day, and a good day to get out and do something different.” Tanski said, “It was much more relaxed than our normal races, because it didn’t count towards our season’s score. One of the teams wasn’t even in our league. It was just a lot of fun.” Andover will travel to Proctor Academy next Wednesday for its next meet.
