Co-Captain Michael Ma ’10 took the baton in the second leg of the 4 x 400 yard relay trailing the Exeter relay team by a few yards. He gained ground, and on the straightaway leading into the third curve, he pushed ahead of the Exeter runner, setting Andover up for what would be an easy relay victory. This race capped off a 76-28 thrashing of Exeter for Andover Boys Track. The relay team of Ma, Dave Knapp ’10, Sam Lessard ’11, and Peter Hetzler ’10 finished the race with a blazing time of 3:51.49. Hetzler also finished the season unbeaten in the 300 yard dash, taking first with a personal best 34.85 seconds. Joe Kruy ’12 remained unbeaten in the 50 yards hurdles, winning by a wide margin of .27 seconds. His goal going into the season was to go undefeated, and he did just that. He said, “It just feels good to know I’m helping the team, which is what really matters.” Matt Higgins ’10 breezed to a first place finish in the 50 yard dash, blowing away the competition by .32 seconds. “I timed the start so I was listening and getting down to count, so I just got to the two and went,” Higgins said. Andover swept the event, as Greg Hanfin ’10 and Khalil Flemming ’12 took second and third, respectively. Andover won the 1000 handedly. Renat Zalov ’11 led throughout the race and finished first with a time of 2:37.77, followed closely by Peter Heidrich ’11 with a time of 2:45.16. The 600 was the tightest race of the day, as Exeter’s runner and Phil Hofer ’10 sprinted stride for stride the whole race. Exeter’s runner just just edged out Hofer around the last curve to take first by half a second. This win was huge for the team, as it snapped a two year losing streak to Exeter. Higgins said, “Beating Exeter was a major goal for us. They’re by far the best team wefaced all season.” The girls could not compete with the strong Exeter team, losing by 43 points. Andover did have one bright spot as Allison Morrison ’12 broke the lower record in long jump. After a jump of 16 feet .5 inches to get to the finals, Morrison jumped 16 feet 11.75 inches, 8 inches further than the Lower record, to win first place. Morrison said, “It didn’t feel like a great jump, and I knew what I had to do to win, so when they said 16’ 11” I was surprised. I don’t really know where it came from. The last jump I just kind of let loose and gave it my all.” The girl’s 4 x 400 team led a tight race with Alexis Dawkins ’10 holding a slight lead over Exeter going into the first handoff. Captain Collen Flanagan ’10 held the lead into the handoff to Shannon Adams ’12. Adams battled for position against the Exeter runner, but eventually fell behind. Morrison fought hard in the last leg, making up considerable time, but it was not enough, and the girls relay team suffered its only loss of the season. “I think overall the season went really well because there was so much improvement for everyone. Everyone [set a personal record] at least once, and even in easy meets everyone put in a lot of effort,” said Flanagan.
