Katherine McIntire ’19 hurled the shot for a critical distance of 24’ 6” to secure third place in the Shot Put and one point for Andover Girl’s Track & Field. With a final tally of 48-47, the single extra point from the field event was enough to clinch Andover’s one point victory over archrival Phillips Exeter Academy this Wednesday. This meet also marked the last Indoor Track & Field meet in the Case Memorial Cage.
Fredericka Lucas ’18 said, “It was a close meet with tough competition, and emotions were running high. Winning by only one point made our victory even more exhilarating.”
Captain Sidney Holder ’17 said, “This meet especially for the girls is always, always, always close we usually lose or win by a point, so it’s very nerve wracking to wait the four hours we’re here to see what happens.”
The meet further raised Andover’s clean season record to 5-0, concluding a successful season for the team.
Holder continued, “God this is nostalgic. I started track here freshman year. It’s my last year here and it’s just starting to settle in. It’s kind of sad because I’ve spent my entire track life in here because I didn’t do outdoor up until last year. [It makes me] sad thinking it will be the last time it will be used.”
Deyana Marsh ’17 said, “I know going into the 4×400 we were all so psyched. [The girls were thinking,] ‘no matter what, we’re going to crush this. We’re going to run as hard as we can because this is the last time were running on this track, this is the last time [we’re] ever running indoor track here, next year, on any track.’ I was really excited to go out there and run my last race.”
Lucas ranked first in both the 50-Yard Dash and the 300-Yard Dash, clocking in at 6.48 and 40.26 seconds, respectively. Marsh sprinted to a first place tie finish in the 50-Yard Hurdles with a time of 8.12 seconds.
Lucas said, “Winning A/E was a great way to end a great season. We wanted to do the Cage justice by winning the last meet held in it, and we certainly met our goals.”
While Lucas and Marsh found success in the short distance events, Post-Graduate Samantha Valentine ’17 dominated the long distance events, winning both the 1-Mile and 2-Mile with times of 5:18.00 and 11:47.40, respectively. In the 1,000-Yard Dash, Valentine closely trailed behind her competition for a second place finish with a time of 2:55.30.
Andover also controlled the the field events with Sanch Sen ’20 leading the Long Jump with a distance of 15’ 5.25”. Lucas cleared a height of 4’ 10” for a first place finish in the High Jump. Miles Kaufman ’19 drove a shot put 28’ 10” for a close second place finish.
Despite the regular season coming to an end, Andover looks to showcase it’s athleticism in the USATF Championships this upcoming Sunday.
