Jun Oh ’12 electrified the crowd with a historical swim in the 500 yard freestyle on Saturday. In addition to obliterating the school record by eight seconds, Oh also collected the pool record, finishing with a time of 4:34.90, a full 21.8 seconds ahead of the closest competitor. “I feel privileged to be able to break a record at a school with an outstanding swim program. I’m so grateful to be a part of a team that supports me so much,” said Oh. Although Andover has had many incredible wins already this season, the team’s 93-75 win over NMH on Saturday was especially impressive. For the seniors, Will Falk-Wallace ‘10, Randy Li ‘10, and Co-Captains Conor McAuliffe ‘10 and Curtis Hon ‘10, this meet served as the final competitive race for them in Andover’s pool, as the remaining meets are all away. McAuliffe said, ‘’It was strange to stand there knowing that it would be the last time I would swim competitively in Andover’s pool. I’m sure the other seniors felt the same way. I think this inspired us to swim faster, knowing that it was our last chance in this pool.” This meet was a memorable one, as not only did the team win by a significant margin, Oh broke the 25-year-old school record to add to the excitment. Andover came out and swept the opening event, the 200 yard medley relay, with the fastest Andover relay of Conor Deveney ’11, Andrew Wilson ’12, Cameron Phillips ’11, and McAuliffe stopping the clock more than a full body length ahead of the closest NMH relay. Ben Morris ’11 said, “This event set the tone for the meet. With a nice winning margin, the team got off on the right foot, and inspired those who weren’t in the relay to swim fast in the upcoming events.” In the following event, the 200 yard freestyle, Matt Mahoney ’11 won by a full three seconds. Oh and Morris maintained Andover’s lead in the 200 yard individual medley, both finishing more than pool length, 24 seconds, ahead of the first NMH swimmer as Oh finished hit the wall with a time of 1:56.52. Andover’s dominance continued in the 50 yard freestyle, as Hon and Alex Nanda ’11 took first and third respectively, with Hon squeezing past the NMH swimmer by less than a second with a time of 22.29. Next, Tommy Kramer ’11 led diving with a score of 184.65, while Manwei Chan ’11 finished second with a respectable 142.60. Morris and Nanda continued Andover’s winning streak after the diving break, taking a one-two finish in the 100 fly. Deveney and McAuliffe won the 100 freestyle, finishing one-two. Deveney and Didi Peng ’12 took the top spots in the 100 yard backstroke and 100 yard breaststroke respectively, with Deveney winning by more than a full pool length over the fastest NMH swimmer. Andover will travel to Deerfield this week.
