After winning a Girls Cross Country race against Choate by more than a minute and falling just one second short of a Choate course record with a time of 18:29 on Saturday, Anoush Shehadeh ’15 somehow found a way to improve.
Four days later at St. Paul’s, Shehadeh again won the race handily, but this time broke the St. Paul’s course record, originally set in 2007 by Andover graduate Abbey Levene ’08, by a full 14 seconds.
Shehadeh’s time of 18:31 propelled Andover to a 22-33 victory over St. Paul’s on Wednesday, but Andover lost 34-22 in the first race of its season against Choate the previous Saturday.
In the St. Paul’s race, Peyton McGovern ’16 and Captain Hailey Novis ’13 finished right behind Shehadeh in second and third, respectively, to contribute to the victory.
Qiqi Ren ’15 and Graydon Tope ’14 also scored for Andover by placing sixth and 10th, respectively.
“I think we had a bit more confidence going into this race than last week,” said Novis. “Since we had one race under our belts…. A lot of us were able to run a harder. I definitely think this is what made us come one-two-three.”
Against Choate, McGovern, Novis and Ren followed Shehadeh with fifth, eighth, and ninth place finishes, respectively.
“Choate had already raced four meets before us, so it is already well into its season, and we were just starting. I think for our first race, everyone did really well,” said Novis.
The team’s strategy was to maintain a steady pace for the first two miles so that the runners could finish strong in the final mile, according to Head Coach Rebecca Hession.
“I think all of the freshmen have been a great addition to the team,” said Graydon Tope ’14. “They have all contributed and have added a huge amount of support to the team.”
Hession said, “Each meet provides us with an opportunity to learn about our competition and, more importantly, to learn about the strengths of our team.”
Andover runs at Northfield Mount Hermon on October 20.
