Diving Captain Lilybet MacRae ’13 broke her own New England record with an amazing score of 524.75 at the New England Championships last weekend.
Despite impressive individual performances and records from MacRae and other Andover swimmers, Andover Girls Swimming ended its undefeated regular season with a fourth-place finish at championships. Andover’s score of 317 left it at fourth place behind Exeter with 368, Deerfield with 357 and Suffield with 327.
Danielle Liu ’14 made great contributions in the meet with a first-place finish in the 500 Freestyle. Her race time of 5:01.03 broke the school record, previously set in 2001. Julia Smachlo ’13 followed shortly behind Liu in the 500 Free with a second-place time of 5:01.63.
Amy Zhao ’14, Co-Captain Julia Torabi ’12, Co-Captain Molly Levene ’12 and Liu smashed another school record and achieved All-American status in the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:36.80. The team of Liu, Zhao, Hailey Novis ’13 and Emily McKinnon ’13 set the previous school record earlier this year.
Zhao was key elsewhere in the competition, as she won the 100 Free with a time of 51.95 and placed second in the 50 Freestyle in 23.83. Zhao earned the team’s award of Andover’s Most Valuable Swimmer this year.
However, Andover was unable to capture a win in any other event and concluded the meet with a disqualification in the 400 Free Relay.
Following the competition, Andover nominated Lucy Frey ’13 as next year’s captain. Under Frey’s leadership, the team looks towards next year as a chance at another undefeated season and a higher finish at championships.
Campbell Howe ’14 said, “[Frey] is going to lead next year’s New England Champions!”
