Leaning into the severe wind, Meg Davis ’17 rounded the top of a steep hill and sprinted to a third place finish at Andover Cycling’s last competitive race of the season on Wednesday.
Boys A, Boys B and Girls B all came out with top six finishes in their classes against Proctor. The coed team already squared off against Proctor at its first meet of the season, in which it raced alongside all of the schools in the league on a mile long circuit race.
Co-Captain Liana Margolese ’15 said, “This race was definitely the most challenging one of the year. The wind was intense, making hill climbs exhausting, and downhill tail winds made cornering sharp turns difficult as riders were hitting 40 mph.”
The Boys C class did not race due to technicalities, but highlights of the Boys A and B teams’ races were Paxton Hyde ’15 and Will Reid ’15 for Boys A and B, respectively. Hyde’s strong performance led Andover with a sixth place finish in Boys A. Reid finished in sixth place in Boys B with one of his best performances of the season.
Following its season-closing race against Proctor, the teams in Andover’s league were ranked based on their total scores and finishes throughout the season.
The Andover Girls B team won their division, coming out with four of the top eight finishers out of a total 31 Girls B racers.
Davis finished as the third best racer overall, Margolese came close behind in fourth, Jessica Wang ’18 ended her first cycling season in sixth place, and Leah Adelman ’17 clinched the eighth spot. The rest of the team members’ finishes also underscored the exceptional Girls B division victory.
Hyde finished fourth in Boys A and Reid placed seventh overall in Boys B.
Newcomers to the team this season Isaac Newell ’18 and Hayden Weatherall ’18 raced strongly throughout the season in Boys C to place eighth and 12th, respectively.
Weatherall said, “Looking back on our first Cycling season, Isaac and I are very happy with our results and look forward to continue working together to our fullest ability in the years to come.”
With the competitive-race season behind it, the teams have one more race versus Phillips Exeter Academy at the Exeter course. The team hopes to end the season with another great team race.
Margolese said, “Last year, the Exeter race was a crazy technical course. This year our team has succeeded in all types of races and circumstances, and we are ready to bring it to Exeter to finish off the season.”