Andover Boys Cross Country asserted its position as the team to beat this season with a victory at the annual Andover Developmental Invitational last Saturday. With strong performances from every team, Andover’s successful race, highlighted by a second place finish by Renat Zalov ’11, shows that Andover is ready to take on any competitor. “The boys ran brilliantly. Many of them realized personal-best times and gave our toughest competitors from Exeter and Deerfield a fabulous race,” said Coach Domina. Our top six runners, led by Renat, finished under 17:00. In a very fast field, Andover’s top six runners finished in the top 10. It was an enormous achievement for the team, for they had not been running this fast until late in the season last year. On Andover’s hilly home course, the average time for the top six runners was 16 minutes and 41 seconds, a blistering pace for a team running in only their second race of the season. Going into the next few weeks of racing, Andover hopes to push that time down to an average time of 16:30. Captain Patrick Wolber ’11 was ecstatic with the team’s results. “All the stats are in our favor: I think we proved something,” he said. Zalov led the Andover pack, finishing second overall with a time of 16:27, followed closely by Wolber two seconds later. Nick Kearns ’11, Tim McLaughlin ’11, James Hamilton ’12 and Matt Appleby ’11 rounded out the top six, finishing no more than 30 seconds behind Zalov, showcasing a smart pack running strategy. The JV team also ran well, as many runners ran the first races of their Andover careers. Wolber said, “The most exciting performances were those beyond the top seven. Most of the guys got their first taste of racing on Saturday and crushed their old personal bests.” Fernando Ramos ’13 led the JV squad with a strong time of 18:55, followed by Ben Ho ’11 in 19:12. Ryan Ramos ’12, Christian Vallis ’12, Michael Das ’14, Jack Sykes ’12 and Connor Fraser ’14 rounded out the top JV runners, finishing as a pack within seven seconds of each other. While Andover will lose almost its entire varsity seven next year, the success and improvement of the newer runners is a promising sign. “The younger runners are starting to share in the excitement of the team,” said Wolber. The boys will head to Watertown, Connecticut next week to run against Choate at another challenging and hilly course. Although Andover Boys Cross Country has not raced against Choate yet this season, it looks to maintain its momentum with an assuring win over a strong Choate program.
