Clocking in together with a time of 17:14, Captain Holden Ringer ’17 and Giacomo Marino ’18 secured first and second place finishes for Andover Boys Cross Country in its race against Choate Rosemary Hall on Saturday. Andover claimed the first five places to earn a score of 15-48 and clinch its first win of the season.
Assistant Coach John Kohn said, “Holden ran a phenomenal race despite not being able to practice for about a month. He’s been cycling in the training room during practice, and has really been able to recover. It’s hard to recover from being hurt while being Captain.”
Andover’s top two finishers were followed by Basil Alfaro ’18, Nathan Goldthwaite ’18, and Jacob Buehler ’19, who finished with times of 17:40, 17:47, and 17:49, respectively.
Despite Choate’s challenging course, Andover came into the race focused and determined to find its first victory. Goldthwaite wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “It’s a tough course, but our team fought hard and definitely deserved this victory.”
The team’s core strategy is to run in packs and maintain cohesiveness, pushing each other to give the race their all.
Goldthwaite wrote, “Buehler and I both fought for position with their top runner for the entire final mile. We pushed each other to dig deep, to leave him behind, and ultimately I think it was this teamwork that led to such a strong victory.”
Although Andover secured an easy victory at Choate, the team hopes to continue improving throughout the season.
Head Coach Jeff Domina wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “Choate’s course is beautiful and challenging, and they always host a great meet. The Andover boys ran very well: they tightened up into some effective packs and ran more attentively than they did last week at NMH. We’re making good progress, but we still have a lot of work to do in order to be where we want to be by the end of the season.”
Looking forward, Andover looks to continue its success in future races throughout the season and post-season. Buehler wrote, “We hope to take our success at cross-country into this Saturday’s meet at St. Paul’s and into the end of the season, when we will compete against Exeter and at the Nepsta D1 Championships.”
The team travels to St. Paul’s on Saturday, looking to continue its success.