Captain Austen Novis ’11 sprinted across the finish line to capture fourth place for Andover Cycling in the Boys A division this weekend at Gould. Within a few hundred meters of the finish line, Novis was riding in second place until his calf cramped up, but he still managed to earn 72 points for Andover. “Gould was probably the hardest course we will face all year, simply because it has so many hills. In those last few meters, I was really frustrated that my calf cramped up. I was riding second, and I had a legitimate shot at winning,” said Novis. In a stretched out field, Matthew Lloyd Thomas ’11 and Charles Ganner ’10 finished tenth and eleventh, seven minutes behind the leaders and contributing valuable points to the team. Despite an early flat tire, Yuto Watanabe ’11 managed to climb back into the race and finish 19th. Andover finished an impressive second in Boys A, losing to Deerfield by around 50 points. In Boys B, James Freeney ’13 and Pierre Julien-Blouin ’12, two of Andover’s three riders in the division, were disqualified due to the minor infraction; crossing the yellow boundary line. Max Block ’12 was the only Andover rider whose score counted, as he finished ninth, just 20 seconds behind the leaders. With four miles left in the race, Blouin sprinted away from the field but was disqualified just before the end of the race, missing out on a top five finish. In the Girls Varsity A division, Andover had two riders, Pia Aehnlich ’10 and Eve Simister ’12. After strong performances in the Holderness race, Coach Zaeder moved the riders up to see how they would handle a higher level of competition. Both riders had exceptional performances. Aehnlich finished ninth within four minutes of the winners, and Simister finished thirteenth, five minutes off the lead. “To keep up with other riders in the A division, I’m going to have to improve my racing strategy to know when to save energy, when to go hard, and when to start sprinting before the finish,” said Simister. Despite only two Andover riders in the division, the team captured sixth place in Girls A. This Saturday, Andover Cycling will have its first time trial of the season at Exeter.
