Joe Faller ’14 and Tim Wynter ’14 led the way in Andover Swimming’s decisive 112-56 victory over Hopkins by contributing to first place finishes in seven different events. With their help, Andover continued its perfect season and is now 5-0.
Faller said, “I do try to keep an eye on my own actions and try to be a role model for the younger, less experienced swimmers on our team… but that’s nothing less than what everyone on the team does and is supposed to do. We pride ourselves on being a classy team, and that relies on all of us being the best examples that we can be.”
The 200 Medley Relay squad, including Faller, Wynter, Andrew Wilson ’12 and Michael Camarda ’14, opened the meet with another pool record (1:38.83). An Andover relay team has now broken a pool record in four consecutive meets.
After a Hopkins swimmer won the 200 Freestyle, Andover did not lose another event for the rest of the meet.
Despite racing the 200 IM for the first time in four years, Wynter triumphed with a time of 2:03.88 and improved his personal best in the event by 20 seconds.
Camarda proceeded to win the 50 Freestyle (22.85), Andrew Xuan’13 secured a victory in the 100 Butterfly (57.59), and Wynter prevailed in 100 Freestyle (49.65).
Faller then comfortably won the 500 Freestyle in 4:58.84. He said, “Honestly, my first thought after the 500 free was wow, I’m tired. That race was way longer than what I was used to swimming, and I had to admit I was a little bit unprepared. However, I was happy to go a best time in that event and even happier to see that my teammates came in right behind me,” said Faller.
Connor Fraser ’13 and Justin Wang came in second and third in the 500 free, with times of 5:09.18 and 5:10.67, respectively.
Andover continued to impress as its 200 Freestyle Relay team featuring Wynter, Camarda, Eric Benca ’12, and David Cao ’14 won with a time of 1:31.63.
After Faller finished first in the 100 Backstroke (55.39) and Wilson prevailed in the 100 Breaststroke (1:03.67), the meet concluded with Benca, Jun Oh ’12, Faller, and Cao winning the 400 Freestyle Relay (3:25.55).
Coach David Fox said, “In reflecting on the day at Hopkins, the coaching staff was pleased to see new leadership arise within the program, both in the pool and on the deck and was pleased with the performances of all the Andover swimmers.”
Andover will face Suffield on Wednesday in the penultimate dual meet of the season. However, Coach Fox said, “The team’s real focus is on performing its best at the New England Championships on March 3rd.”
Faller added, “Everybody on the team knows how all of the other teams in the league are out to beat us, and everybody knows how possible it is for us to lose, as seen in how close the Deerfield meet was. We’re all training hard in the hope that this year will be a ‘three-peat,’ and we’ll be able to bring home that trophy one more time for the third year in a row.”
