After powering to the end of the 5K race at Proctor, Yuto Watanabe ’11 faced the steepest hill of the season. Charging up the hill, Watanabe used his earlier momentum to speed past several opponents and hang with Cal Brooks ’11. Watanabe raced to the finish with his best performance yet, making major gains in Andover points for the race. “The race went surprisingly well for me. I was behind [Cal Brooks ’11] pretty much the whole race, and I tried to keep up with him. I had to beat Proctor kid so that our team could beat Proctor,” Watanabe said. The 5K race was at Proctor Academy on an impressive course. Proctor has its own ski mountain, wooded area, and a ski jump, making the course more challenging than previous races. The course was difficult because of its hilly terrain with a massive hill in the middle of the race of the race. Racing down the hill, racers lost their grip wax making it hard to ski the rest of the race. The abrasive snow also contributed to difficult skiing. Captain Mimi Tanski ’11 also had a stong race. Teammate Marga Kempner ’12 said, “Mimi did really well on a hilly course. The girls on the team performed well overall. Eve [Simister ’12] also had an awesome race. Everyone pulled together as a team and had fun.” For the boys, Max Block 12’ lead the scoring with a 4th place finish, followed by Cal Brooks at 7th and Yuto Watanabe at 8th. Julien Blouin 12’ rounded out the fourth scoring position finsihing 18th. Mimi Tanski finished second for the girls, Marga Kempner 15th and Eve Simister and Piper Curtis finished 23rd and 25th to round out the scoring girls. The top skiers on the team will travel to compete in the NEPSAC Championship next Wednesday. Sean Burkitt ‘14, a newcomer this year to the team, is looking forward to participating in his first NEPSAC event. He has shown promise during the season and is looking to peak at the championship. Many team members are looking towards Tanski and Brooks as the ones to lead the way to an Andover victory. This is their last Nordic skiing championship, and both have performed exceptionally well throughout the season. Last year the team placed well at NEPSACs, but is definitely looking to improve on their result. All of the team members have improved steadily throughout the season, and many feel that the championship will be one of their best races. The newcomers this year have been an especially strong influence on the team, and look to working towards a strong team performance at the championship.
