Sports

Amy Zhao ’14 Takes First in 50-yard Freestyle; Lilybet MacRae ’13 Dominates Again

Led by two impressive first place finishes from Amy Zhao ’14 and a diving win from Lilybet MacRae ’13, the Andover Girls Swimming and Diving team left the pool deck victoriously on Saturday after a close 106-80 battle against Deerfield. Zhao blew everyone out of the water with a 24.58 first place finish in the 50 yard freestyle, followed by Hailey Novis ’13 in third place at 26.28 and Lexi Moroney ’11 in fourth place at 26.39. Zhao later rocked the 100 yard butterfly, posting a first place finish with a time of 59.60, while Julia Torabi ’12 followed in third with a time of 1:02.63. The girls also took a 1-2-4 finish in the diving event with Lilybet Macrae and Kendall Macrae ’11 taking the top two spots, followed by Whitney Glick ’11. This dominant finish set the girls up for the victorious afternoon. The squad added to their lead with a strong 1-3 finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Novis, Katie Fanikos ’11, Moroney and Zhao took first in 1:41.63 while Frey, Molly Levene ’12, Kristen Faulkner ’11 and Emily McKinnon ’13 finished in third at 1:46.41. A sweep of the 500 yard freestyle continued Andover’s dominance, as Smachlo, Faulkner and Lauren Conte ’14 took the event with times of 5:16.22, 5:23.49 and 5:24.12 respectively. Andover posted strong finishes in the remainder of the events. Julia Smachlo ’13 placed second in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.32, less than three tenths of a second from first. Following Smachlo’s close second, Lucy Frey ’13 achieved a season best time of 2:02.89, coming in fourth. Torabi posted a second place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 2:15.42 while Lydia Azaret ’12 finished third at 2:20.07 and McKinnon took fourth appearance in 2:20.17. Co-captain Theresa Faller ’11 amazed the crowd with an impressive time of 54.50 in the 100 yard freestyle, coming in second place while Moroney and Novis finished third and fourth to win the event overall. The girls didn’t back down in the 500 yard freestyle; Smachlo, Faulkner and Lauren Conte ’14 swept the event with times of 5:16.22, 5:23.49 and 5:24.12. After a neck-in-neck race in the 100 backstroke, the girls came away with a 2-3-4 finish for Andover with Faller at 1:01.22, Emily Carrolo ’13 with a time of 1:04.85, and Lydia Azaret ’12 with a time of 1:06.20. The 100 breaststroke proved to be a tough battle as well with McKinnon in second at 1:13.63, followed by Timm at 1:15.01, and Robinson in sixth at 1:17.18. Deerfield put together strong relay teams for the 400 freestyle relay and 200 medley relay. Deerfield stole first and third place in the 200 medley relay, as Faller , Emily Timm ’11, Torabi, and Moroney touched the wall at 1:55.46, just .22 seconds after the winning Deerfield team. Andover teams posted second and third to close out the meet successfully in the 400 yard relay. Faller, Novis, Torabi and Zhao hit the wall second at 3:45.94 while Faulkner, Fanikos, Levene and Frey came in third at 3:53.58. Head Coach Paul Murphy summed up the meet, saying, “Deerfield is always an excellent competitor for us, and I never know what they’re going to do. We were tied going into the diving competition, which made me a bit nervous, but we had a great second half of the meet. We’re lucky to have such a strong diving team, it’s one of the best I’ve seen here in a long time.” Now 4-0, Andover looks forward to competing against the Hopkins School next Saturday at home.