Boys Indoor Track’s hard work paid off Saturday as it beat Andover High for the first time in two years by 54 points. Despite injuries, Andover proved its dominance by taking first place in nine out of the twelve events. Boys Captain, Mike Ma ’10 said, “A lot of our guys competed with either illness or injuries. They sacrificed a lot.” The girls team, with significantly fewer athletes than Andover High, came close to beating the opposition, losing by only 16 points. Andover’s relay teams proved their strength, both winning by significant margins. The girls relay team of Alexis Dawkins ’10, Zahra Bhaiwala ’10, Stassja Sichko ’10 and Captain Colleen Flanagan ’10 dominated Andover High and Wilbraham with a time of four minuntes and 51 seconds. The boys team of Dave Knapp ’10, Jonathan Westling ’12, Phil Hofer ’10 and Peter Hetzler ’10 blew away the competition with a time of three minutes and 56 seconds. Andover placed first, second and third in both boys’ and girls’ shot put. Joe Kruy ’12 stood out on the boys side, placing second after Bobby Vardaro ’10, with a throw of 41 ft 11 in, after only three practices. Coach Bernieri said, “Joey could easily throw fifty feet as a 10th grader if he kept working at it.” Kruy said, “It is really exciting because instead of just helping the team with hurdles, I can help out a little more in the shot put.” Kruy also won hurdles with a time of 7.07 seconds, beating the competition by an impressive five yards in the 50-yard race. Matt Higgins ’10 torched all the other runners in the 50 yard dash. He finished in 5.59 seconds, 0.4 seconds better than his previous personal best. Hofer ran well in the 600, placing first after qualifying for Nationals in the team’s first meet. Hofer said, “I didn’t expect to qualify this early in the season, but at the same time it was kind of inevitable. At this point it doesn’t really matter. What matters is getting the times down over the next six weeks.” Hofer also won first in the 800, at the Greater Boston Invitational Indoor Track meet on Sunday, with a time of 2 min and .08 seconds. In addition to Hofer’s first-place-finish, Andover performed well at the Greater Boston Invitational Track Indoor Track Meet, sending 11 athletes to Harvard to compete against other high school and college track stars. Allison Morrison ’12 placed seventh in the long jump. She said, “So far I haven’t run very much because I don’t want to get hurt for outdoor track, but jumping is fun. My goal is to beat the 10th grade record in long jump.” Matt Higgins placed 8th in the 200, and Charlie Ganner ’10 placed 13th in the one mile. Peter Hetzler ’10 placed 10th in the 400, while Malcolm Mason-Rodriguez ’11 won the long jump with a jump of 7.08 meters. Chris Higgins ’10 came in 9th with a jump of 5.83 meters. This Saturday, Andover will take on Governor’s and Wilbraham.
