Andover Boys Indoor Track & Field swept the top four places in all events in its first meet of the season, earning a resounding 70-33-15 win against Governor’s and Wilbraham & Monson, respectively, last Saturday.
Head Coach Rebecca Hession said, “There is a lot of promise as I went through all of the events. There was no event which we had a particular hole in, which is a really great sign for the program this year.”
In the 50-Yard Dash, David Onabanjo ’18 came in first place with a time of 5.96 seconds and newcomer Conor Zachar ’19 came in third place with a time of 6.25 seconds. Onabanjo also came in second place in the 300-Yard dash, finishing in 36.83 seconds.
Andrei Dumitrescu ’18 claimed first place in the 300-Yard dash with a time of 36.78 seconds.
Dumitrescu said, “I had an advantage because I knew how to run the track because the track is pretty hard and it hurts a lot of people,” said Dumitrescu. “I started in lane four, so it was easier for me to cut in and cut off the guy behind me. Once you get the lead in the first lap, you win the race if you can hold it off.”
Giacomo Marino ’18 stood out in the long distance events, coming in first place in the 1-Mile and second place in the 2-Mile with times of 4:56.28 minutes and 11:51.46 minutes, respectively. Marino attributed his success in distant events at the meet to a strong Cross Country season this fall.
Marino said, “I think the whole distance team, including myself, came off of a really strong Cross Country season. We hope to carry over that success to track, which showed in how we all ran on Saturday.”
Jacob Buehler ’19, another member of Andover Boys Cross Country, also contributed to Andover’s win, scoring first place in the 2-Mile with a time of 11:48.48 minutes. Buehler also came in fourth place in the 1-Mile in 5:16.51 minutes.
Henry Wakelin ’17 led Andover in the high and long jumps, scoring first place in the High Jump with a clearing height of 5 feet 4 inches and fourth place in the Long Jump with a score of 17 feet 7 inches. This was Wakelin’s first time competing in the Long Jump, so he hopes to improve his fundamentals moving forward.
Wakelin said, “Definitely the new High-Jump coach has helped me with my form. For Long Jump – this is my first time doing it – so I just tried to jump as far as I could. I am trying to work on my form because I have not really practiced that.”
Andover swept the Shot Put event with Noah Ward ’17 and Johnny Rex ’17 coming in first and second places, respectively. Ward threw for 53 feet 6 inches, and Rex threw for 44 feet 8 inches. Tyler Craigwell ’18 came in third, throwing for a score of 38 feet 9 inches.
Rex said, “It was a good start to the winter track season. I want to stop falling out of the circle when I throw. When I am gliding across the circle, I tend to fall over it and then my throw doesn’t count, so definitely for the next meet I want to work on staying in the circle and increasing my distance.”
With the depth of a large team and experienced returners, Andover is expecting a strong season in the meets to come.
Coach Hession said, “It is a combination of building off of the success of the team last year, as well as the chance to have about 50 boys competing, so when you have that many people competing it sets the team up to do well. So it was a great example of the numbers and the depth that our team has, as well as a lot of experienced people setting the tone.”
