Both Andover Boys and Girls Track finished in second place in a tri-meet against Loomis Chaffee and Northfield Mount Hermon two weeks ago, but rebounded to take first place against Cushing Academy, Pingree and Landmark last Wednesday. In the tri-meet, the boys lost by only 2.5 points, while the girls finished 38 points behind the first place team. However, Andover Track showed that the team wasn’t phased, coming away with a convincing win in a quad-meet against Cushing, Pingree and Landmark. With the Interscholastic Tournament coming up this weekend, both the boys’ and girls’ strong performances in their quad-meet will provide great momentum. The boys finished in first place with 82 points over second-place Cushing, while the girls prevailed over second place Pingree by 57 points. Andover won 23 out of 34 events, pushing the boys’ total to 102 points and the girls’ final tally to 97. Peyton McGovern ’16, winner of the 800m race in the quad-meet, said, “The victory against Cushing was a good motivator for us. We’ve seen our improvement over the course of the season, and that pushes us forward.” Last year, the girls finished in second place in the tournament, but with injuries that piled up over the course of the season, it will be difficult to improve upon that result to take the crown. “The girls team lost a lot of Seniors last year,” continued McGovern, “So this year, we’re really young, and the injuries have been tough. This year, we have a very different team from last year.” The boys, who stayed relatively healthy this year, have an optimistic outlook about this coming week at Interschols. Historically, the boys team has been very successful at Interschols, winning championships in 2010 and 2011, but the boys finished in eighth place last year after losing a lot of depth. Demetrios Papageorgio ’13, who has championship experience at Interschols, noted that the loss of experienced athletes was difficult to overcome last year. We had the talent to win a lot of events last year, but we weren’t getting enough of the second, third or fourth-place finishes that we need to succeed. This year, we’ll be much better because we have the competitors who can get us those crucial points that come with placing in different events,” said Papageorgio. Matching last year’s eighth place finish is certainly not out of the question, and moving into the top seven is a very real possibility. The Interscholastic Tournament, however, isn’t the team’s final meet of the season—a showdown against Exeter awaits the team a week later. The boys and girls hope to not only win events, but also to create momentum for the last meet of the year.
