Andover Girls Track suffered a heartbreaking loss last Saturday losing by three points. Andover held a tight two point lead going into the 1000 yard race, however, Haverhill broke out and took a huge lead. The Haverhill team dominated, taking first, second and third, gaining a seven point lead. Despite Andover’s stellar first place finish in the 4 by 400 relay, Andover could not close the gap. The girls remained strong in field events, with Morrison taking first in both the long jump with a jump of 15 feet, four and a half inches, and high jump of five feet. Andover fared well in shot put, with Jasmine Stovall ’10 taking first place with a throw 27 feet 11 inches, and Chelsea Grain ’12 taking second place with a throw of 26 feet, ten inches. The Andover girls failed to earn any first place finishes in the running events, but the team did get several second and third place finishes that contributed key points to the team score. Maggie Law ’10 and Co-Captain Colleen Flanagan ’10 traded second and third place finishes in the 50-yard dash and the 300 yard race, as Law took second in the 50 and Flanagan finished second in the 300. Andover’s biggest setback was a lack of depth in distance, as only two girls: Katie Ellinger ’12, who took second in the mile, and Alessandra Powell ’11, who placed second in the two-mile, placed in the top three in distance events. In contrast to the girls, the boys team relied on its depth to defeat Haverhill. Captain Michael Ma ’10 said, “We have those point scorers in various events that we can consistently rely on to give us the initial advantage, but what really allows us to win are those points from the second and third place finishes.” The boys dominated the field events, winning first place in the long jump, high jump and shot put. Chris Higgins ’10 won the high jump with a leap of five feet ten inches, followed by Paul Dacey ’10 with a jump of five feet, eight inches. Khalil Flemming ’12 had an outstanding performance in long jump with a distance of 20 feet, three inches. Bobby Vardaro ’10 won shot put with a throw of 52 feet, his longest throw of the year. Although Andover didn’t cruise through the running events as it had in previous meets, the team still earned several first place finishes. Joe Kruy ’12 blew away the competition in the hurdles, as he remains unbeaten this season. Peter Hetzler ’10 also remains unbeaten in the 300 yard dash, after he breezing to another first place finish. Phil Hofer ’10 dominated the long distance events, winning both the mile and the 600 by considerable margins, lapping all other runners in the mile and defeating the closest competitor in the 600 by half a lap. Andover’s relay team of Ma, Sam Lessard ’11, Dave Knapp ’10 and Hetzler capped off the meet with an easy win. With first place finishes in the field events, Andover was able to break away from the competition. Ma said, “The meet was very close in the first half, but once the field event wins and longer running event wins came in, we pulled away.” The team finished with a 57-37 victory. Both teams have a break this weekend before they take on Exeter next Wednesday.
