In the last meet of the season, both Andover Girls and Boys Indoor Track fell to very strong Exeter squads despite setting multiple personal records.
The Girls team earned numerous first and second place finishes but lost by a 62-42 margin, bringing its season record to 3-2.
Captain Charlie Jarvis ’15 led her team by example, taking first place in the 300-Yard Dash with a time of 40.89 seconds. Jarvis continued her strong performance by taking second place in the Long Jump and third place in the 50-Yard Dash. Jarvis’s distance for the Long Jump was an impressive 15’10”, and her time for the 50 was 6.75 seconds.
Jarvis said, “We all came ready to perform and that’s exactly what we did. I’m so proud of everyone on the team and all the work they’ve put in this season. Even though we may not have won, the individual performances as well as the team dynamic tell a completely different story.”
Jarvis also ran in the 4×400 Relay along with Meghan Tao ’15 , Kinsey Yost ’15 and Caroline Shipley ’16, nabbing another win for Andover. The final time for the relay team was 4:28.83, a full ten seconds ahead of the Exeter relay team’s time.
Sprinter Camille Little ’16 claimed first place in the 50-Yard Dash with a time of 6.53 seconds. Shipley also snatched first in the 600-Yard Dash. Shipley finished the race in 1:33.01.
Grace Rademacher ’18 also found success as she placed first in the One-Mile with a time of 5:28.32 and second in the Two-Mile with a time of 11:37.82, just a half-second shy of the first place time. Anoush Shehadeh ’15 finished not far behind Rademacher with a time of 12:23.74.
Shipley said, “Overall, it was a super strong performance across the board, and [there were] tons of personal records. It was such an awesome way to end our winter season.”
The Boys team earned first and second place in many events as well, but it still lost by a significant margin of 71-26.
Captain John Gorton ’15 got the team off to a strong start by winning the One-Mile. Gorton pushed ahead in the last three laps to finish with a time of 4:38.40. Junior Basil Alfaro ’18 took third place in the One-Mile with a time of 4:55.19. Ralph Skinner ’16 continued his success with a first place finish in the 1000-Yard Race. Skinner’s time was 2:33.07. Junior David Onabanjo ’18 took third place in a competitive 300-Yard Race with a time of 36.55 seconds.
The team also benefitted from its Field results. Isaac Pierce ’16 won the Pole Vault with a score of 9.6. Noah Ward ’17 came in second place in the Shot Put with a throw of 49 feet. Dakoury Godo-Solo ’17 snatched second place in the High Jump with a height of five feet.
The few bright spots of the meet were unable to counter Exeter’s depth across all events. The loss brought Andover Boys Track’s record to 3-2.
Gorton wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “While we absolutely wanted to beat them, we were also thinking about the meet as an opportunity to grow from exposure to really difficult competition. Our athletes took on the difficult completion with such readiness and desire to achieve.”
Although the score showed a significant loss, the personal records that were set and the intense and exciting competition ended Andover’s season on a high note.
