Andover Girls Nordic placed fifth out of ten teams, while the boys placed eighth out of 11 teams in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) Nordic Championship on Wednesday, February 13.
The conference, which started early in the morning and ran late into the afternoon, was held at Proctor Academy.
Co-Captain Sean Burkitt ’14 captured 17th in the first race, a 6k classic, despite being sick with strep throat.
“It was a decent finish, but I wish I could have done a little bit better,” said Burkitt.
“Classic is my favorite event,” he added. “It was a great course. I competed on it my [Junior] year; there was good snow… and overall it was a fun race.”
Co-Captain Elana King-Nakaoka ’14 also had an excellent finish; she skated her way to ninth place overall.
Aaron Finder ’13 disqualified from the morning race for use the “herringbone” technique, which is similar to walking, that makes it easier to climb hills.
“I made a mistake, and I regret doing it,” said Finder. “I feel bad I let my fatigue get the best of me.”
The other event featured was the 4 by 2.5k skate ski relay, which took place in the afternoon. The Andover boy’s relay team, consisting of Burkitt, Finder, Sallick and Liam Fortin ’14, finished in 8th place.
Racing for the girl’s team were King–Nakaoka, Olivia LaMarche ’16, Ziggy Chesley ’13 and Piper Curtis ’13. The girls took 6th place out of 10 teams.
“It had been a long day so everybody kind of wanted to show up and do our best,” said Sallick.
On February 20, Andover participated in the Lakes Region Championship, its final race of the season.
Burkitt said, “Overall, its been a pretty strong season. We got snow late, which meant not as much training as we would have liked, but the season has still been good.”
Because results were not available as of presstime, coverage of the Lakes Region Championship will be provided in next week’s issue of The Phillipian.
