Andover Boys Swimming left Loomis floundering 105-73 on Saturday after snagging first place in the first eight events of the meet. For the last three events, Andover swam in non-scoring exhibition, while Loomis added on 38 more points. Nevertheless, Andover was still able to come out on top.
“Seeing the team be able to do so well after such hard practice is really convincing,” said David Cao ’14. With the win, Andover squashed any lingering worries about disadvantages from the loss of strong Seniors this past year.
In the first event of the day, the 200 Medley Relay, Charles Van Eijk ’14, Andrew Yang ’14, Tim Wynter ’14, and Cao took first place in 1:42.36.
Just behind them was the team of Darren Ty ’16, Justin Wang ’13, Captain Joe Faller ’14 and Travis Bouscaren ’14 with 1:43.67 for second place.
Both Aaron Teo ’15 (first, 1:50.69) and Marcello Rossi ’16 (second, 1:54.95) achieved personal records in the 200 Freestyle. Connor Fraser ’13 was less than a second behind Rossi, with a time of 1:55.57 for fourth place.
After helping to secure a first place finish in the 200 Medley Relay, Yang returned to the pool for a decisive first place win in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:04.29.
Andover sprinters Cao (22.77), Heson Oh ’14 (22.88) and Ty (23.69) dominated the top three spots in the next event, the 50 Freestyle. After this event, Andover was leading the meet 48-14.
“One of the key components to our success is our team dynamic,” said Chris Li ’15. “That support really boosts our confidence and helps us get through the meet.”
Loomis was unable to turn the tables, as Andover maintained its lead in the Diving event that followed. Kade Call ’14 placed second with 174.6 points, and new divers Graham Johns ’14 and Thomas Bakken ’14 showed steady improvement and came close behind in fourth and fifth place.
Alex Li ’15 won the first individual event of his Andover career in the 100 Butterfly, with a personal best of 54.15. Teo swam another personal best of 54.86 for second place, and Cho followed with 57.82 in fourth.
The momentum carried on to the 100 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle. Andover proved its versatility by taking the top three spots in both events. Oh (50.19) led the team, and Bouscaren (50.67) and Cao (50.72) took second and third place, respectively.
Wang won the 500 Freestyle in 5:11.23, and Thomas Choi ’16 and Fraser came in close behind in second and third.
To cap off the scored section of the meet, Wynter, Xuan, Oh, and Cao won the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:33.15. Alex Li, Cho, Ty, and Rossi took second with 1:34.77.
The following events, despite being non-scoring exhibitions, were full of strong individual performances. In the 100 Backstroke, Faller swam backstroke for the first time in a year for a personal best of 53.57, and Bouscaren also had a personal best with 56.29. Scott Simpson ’14 followed in the 100 Breaststroke with a personal best of 1:04.66.
Andover will face Northfield Mount Hermon this Saturday at NMH.
“Our Loomis meet was just one small meet in a myriad of meets this term,” said Rossi. “We are preparing ourselves to win the big prize: Easterns.”