Sports

B2 Cements First Place Streak

Recent trends prevailed as B1 sucumbbed to a narrow defeat while B2 found victory for Andover Boys Crew against archrival Exeter last Saturday.

Despite losing to Exeter, B1 did well to place second in a field of seven that included Brookline, St. Johns, Simsbury, Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) and Shrewsbury. Two seconds came between Andover and first place Exeter. The two boats were neck-and-neck for the first 750 meters of the race, but Andover could not keep up with Exeter’s sprint in the final stretch.

Although the close loss may have been upsetting, Andover’s B1 has most certainly improved after placing third in the same invitational in 2013. However, after losing to Kent by just over two seconds on April 12, B1 looks to close the gap before it becomes a recurrence.

“We rowed much stronger and harder than we had [against Kent]. We had a more competitive attitude because we were coming off of a loss. But technically, we were less sound and together. We really lacked in the sprint at the end, and will work on it this week in practice. We want to be fully ready for our next race,” said Marc Sevastopoulo ’15.

Rowing with Sevastopoulo on B1 were Rob Irvin ’15, Ben Hawley ’15, Dylan Norris ’16, Chandler Washburn ’16, Nick Faulkner ’16, Rome Arnold ’14 and Nico Robertson ’15.

Andover’s B2 came in first once again, barely escaping with a one second lead over Exeter. After some reworking of the boats, B2 took on a core of four Seniors in Captain Grant Bitler ’14, Cooper Hurley ’14, Scott Simpson ’14 and Andrew Vallejos ’14. With the help of Jack Lane ’15, Gray Mackall ’15, Colby Lapointe ’16, Alex Cao ‘16 and coxswain Jacob Kozol ’15, B2 pulled a 4:31.5 and advanced the boat’s record to 3-0.

Conditions were not favorable as the boats battled rough, choppy conditions on the water. With a strong tailwind and a slight crosswind, most of the races started past the starting line.

Andover will take on Salisbury, Brunswick, BC High and Boston Latin this upcoming Saturday back on the Merrimack.