Gaining a substantial lead in the freestyle leg of the 200-Yard Individual Medley, Elizabeth Tran ’19 snagged a first-place finish with a time of 2:14.05 minutes, driving Andover Girls Swimming to a close 99-87 victory over Deerfield. The win brought Andover’s record to 3-1.
Ashley Teo ’17 wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “Coming into the meet, we expected it to be a close and tough one, as Deerfield has always been a strong team. It was indeed a close one with a difference of only 12 points.” In the 100-Yard Butterfly, Teo placed third with a season-best time of 1:02.94 minutes. She also placed fourth with her relay teammates Morgan Rooney ’17, Yifei Wu ’18 and Kathleen Ty ’19 in the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:50.77 minutes.
Andover edged out Deerfield in the 100-yard backstroke. Allyson Ty ’18 took the win with a time of 59.63 seconds, and Emma Donchi ’18 placed third at 1:02.07 minutes.
Donchi wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “Our whole team was excited for this meet because we knew it was going to be close, so everyone was really amped and ready to swim fast. We put in a lot of energy this past week at practice in order to be prepared to beat Deerfield, and our hard work paid off. Everyone stepped up to the challenge, both by swimming fast and cheering loudly, and we came together as a team to win.”
Showing incredible speed in a wire-to-wire race, Jessica Gearan ’18 took the win in the 100-Yard Freestyle with a time of 55.18 seconds.
In the 500-Yard Freestyle, Juniors Macey Mannion ’19 and Tran took crucial first and second places with times of 5:21.68 and 5:25.18 minutes, respectively.
Mannion wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “As a team, I think we did tremendously. We all swam very fast and had great times. Coming to the meet, I was definitely nervous from hearing about how good Deerfield is. Watching all the races was very exciting because they were all so close, especially the relays. I think the team, as a whole, was very supportive and enthusiastic. Some people definitely stood up to the challenge and brought their A-game. There were some incredibly fast times and a lot of personal bests.”
The 200-Yard Freestyle Relay, composed of Allyson Ty, Co-Captain Sasha Newton ’16, Sloane Sambuco ’16 and Gearan, held on to win against an accelerating Deerfield team with a sweltering time of 1:41.54 minutes.
To conclude the meet, the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay team, consisting of Co-Captain Elizabeth Duserick ’16, Gearan, Tran and Allyson Ty, blew by Deerfield with a time of 3:44.79 minutes.
Head Coach Paul Murphy ’84 said, “Deerfield really pushed us to perform at our highest level. I was very impressed with the team as a whole and with some individuals in particular. We are really a great team this year – high energy and fast times. So great to see us reaching this peak mid-season.”
After a weekend off, Andover looks to lap Hopkins on Saturday, February 13.
