Highlighted by a win in the 50-yard dash by Brandon Wright ’11, Andover Indoor Track started off the season well in their first meet of the season against Andover High School and Wilbraham last Saturday, capturing top finishes in almost all events. Despite an overall points loss to Andover High, with the boys scoring 53 points and the girls scoring 46, the persistent core of veteran runners, performed well and many new runners got a feel for their events. Andover suffered a very close four-point loss to Andover High, who were hindered by the absence of some athletes who competed in the Greater Boston Track Club meet the previous day. In addition, while Andover athletes scored high in each event, the greater depth of Andover High School enabled them to come out on top. “A strong core group of top- finishers is important, but we also need a solid team base that can take home the third and fourth places for each event. I believe that everyone on the team should keep in mind that they can contribute to a team victory and step up to the challenge,” said James Lim ’12, an Andover sprinter. On the boys’ side, Joe Kruy ’12 and Jack Ward ’13 threw well in the shot put, with Kruy placing third, at 41-06.5 feet and Ward placing fourth, at 39-01.5 feet. Shortly after, in the long jump, Demetri Papageorgiou ’13 was the frontrunner for Andover, taking a strong second place with a jump of 16-10.25 feet. Wright dominated the 50-yard dash with a time of 5.9 seconds. Coming in a close second was Kruy, in his second event of the day, with a time of 6.1 seconds. Kruy next demonstrated his incredible consistency in the 50-yard hurdles, capturing first place with a time of seven seconds. Mike Garai ’13 took a dominant first with a time of 36.6 seconds in the 300-yard dash, while Kevin Fung ’13 finished first in the 600-yard dash at 1:25.76. James Hamilton ’12 led the pack in the 1 mile, finishing at 5:07, while Benjamin Talarico took first in the two-mile with a time of 11:00. Finally, the Andover 4×440 yard relay team of Captain Turner Shaw ’11, Papageorgiou, Max Queenan ’11 and Lim, was able to hold off Andover High School for a first place finish in 3:58.4. The girls’ side faired almost as well. In the 300 yard dash, Rachel Andresen ’13 displayed great athleticism, taking first in a stellar 44.3-second finish. Shannon Adams ’12 captured first in the high jump at 4 feet 8 inches. In the 4×440 yard relay, the team of Zoe Chazen ’14, Rebecca Wagman ’13, Andresen and Dianna Tchadi ’14, took over, seizing first in 4:47.1. Finally Kelsey Jamieson ’12 took first in the 2 mile. Andover Indoor Track also hosted a powerful Haverhill team on Wednesday. Although the experience and depth of Haverhill overpowered that of Andover in the end, Andover still had some stellar performances in that of Kruy, taking first in the 50 yard hurdles, Renat Zalov ’11, dominating the longer distances, and Kate Bulger ’11 doing very well in her distance events. Looking to improve on their record, Andover Indoor Track will travel to Governer’s Academy next Wednesday.
