In her second race back after an injury, Carmen Bango ’16 slid across the finish line in a time of 15:22 minutes to finish first out of 81 yet again. Bango led Andover Girls Nordic to a fifth place finish out of nine teams at Proctor Academy.
Bango said, “Due to the lack of snow, the course was four loops, which caused there to be a lot of overlap between skiers. My goal during the race was to ski strong and aggressively around people, and always think ahead around the turns to get the best line to ski up. I was super proud of the entire team for staying positive through the difficult snow conditions and crowded course, and powering up the hills.”
Evelyn Mesler ’17, who finished in 26th place, said, “There were also a few large ice patches on the course that made staying balanced pretty tricky.”
“My goal during the race was to stay on my feet and just keep passing girls as the race continued. I would say I’m most proud of keeping a steady pace throughout the race instead of slowing down by the last loop,” continued Mesler.
Andover Boys Nordic also had a strong race, with Rex Noble ’18 coming in 34th with a time of 17:37, followed by Isaac Newell ’18, who placed 52nd with a time of 18:54, and Aditya Krishnamachar ’17, who came in 55th with a time of 19:20. Boys Nordic had an overall team finish of eight out of the 11 competing teams.
Krishnamachar said, “The race was pretty much about just grinding it out, ‘running’ up the hills and finding the most efficient way to double pole. We used a few different types of klister wax to try and find the best fit for the snow conditions.”
Despite the lack of snow, Andover enjoyed the chance to race. Cole Demeulemeester ’18 said, “[The race] was chaotic but a lot of fun, especially sprinting up the hills passing the other racers, definitely running past the competition on the hills.”
Head Coach Keith Robinson was pleased with the team’s performance. He said, “We had a great week of training last week with nice trails on campus. [We] did a lot of work with double poling and just lots of long ski days. [The] race was kind of sloppy this week with wet, icy snow. Once again we were at Proctor, as other schools just haven’t had enough snow to host with this being such a tough year.”
With the end of the season approaching, Andover is preparing for the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (Nepsac) Championships. Coach Robinson said, “[We are] nearing the end of the season with two big races next week, so [we are] getting some hard work in the next few days and then resting to stay fresh for the final races.”
Editor’s Note: This article is covering last week’s Nordic Race, as the results were released on Friday, after the paper went to print.
