Ranked among the nation’s top 25 prep school swimming teams since 2006, Andover Boys Swimming comes into this year’s season with high hopes after finishing with a third consecutive New England Championship title in its 100th season last year.
This year, the team will work on incorporating new talent into its lineup of accomplished returners and will compete in an entirely new championship, the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships.
“Last year, along with the past few seasons, we’ve been at the peak of the swimming program,” said Captain Joe Faller ’14.
The team has lost seven valuable seniors from the Class of 2012 and will need to rebuild in order to continue its success.
Faller is optimistic about keeping up Andover’s tradition of excellence going forward. With the combination of both the experienced returning swimmers and promising newcomers, the team looks to be in good shape already.
“A lot of other schools have really great guys who are fast and are a level above everyone else,” Faller said. “We have those guys, but even after that we have three or four guys in every event that can hold their own against everyone else. The team is ready to step up to the challenge.”
“We have five or six recruits this year that we’re really glad to have come to Andover; they’re going to be a huge help,” Faller added.
Among the new talent is Scott Simpson ’14, a new Upper from Canada.
“We have a good dynamic not only in the pool but outside the pool as well,” Simpson said. “We have a really close group of guys.”
Faller said that team chemistry has always been one of Andover’s strongest attributes and key to its recent success.
“When everyone goes out there to swim their best, they’re saying: ‘I want to do the best I can for the team, and I want to contribute my part to our team’,” said Faller.
“We’d all like to make the top heat of the championship and swim against the fastest guys in high school,” he continued.
The team’s decision to go to the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted in Pennsylvania, instead of the New England Championships is a chance for more competition and new goals.
“It’s different from what we’ve done for the past 50 years now,” said Faller. “I’m really excited to see how well we do against literally a new pool of kids.”
“I think it will be really interesting and I look forward to going somewhere new,” added David Cho ’14, a returning swimmer.
Andover looks forward to the Blue/White Scrimmage, Andover’s inter-squad meet, at home this Friday.
