Andover Boys Cross Country secured seven of the top ten finishes during its home opener last Saturday and ultimately earned a 24-36 victory against Choate.
Head Coach Jeff Domina said, “I’m always proud of the team for racing hard without ever losing sight of their respect for the sport and for their opponents. I would have liked to have seen a tighter spread between our first and seventh finishers in the varsity race.”
Andover’s entire varsity squad finished the race in under 18 minutes. A second place finish by Alex Fleury ’20, with a time of 16:36 minutes, helped lead Andover to its victory. Max Yang ’20, Nathan Goldthwaite ’18, Spencer Davis ’18, Sam Tobin ’18 and Harrison Wilson ’20 finished in fourth through eighth place with times of 17:09 minutes, 17:22 minutes, 17:30 minutes, 17:33 minutes, and 17:50 minutes, respectively.
Other Andover finishers included Anthony Minickiello ’20, Jack O’Neil ’19, and David Cohen ’18, who finished in times of 18:02 minutes, 19:21 minutes, and 19:43 minutes, placing tenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth, respectively.
Fleury wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “When this team runs at home, we are unbeatable. We know our course so well and we have become excellent at running it efficiently and quickly. Additionally, seeing the familiar surroundings as we run through the Andover campus creates a sense of home while we are running. Finally, the numerous amount of friendly faces we see cheering us on as we run is the icing on the cake.”
Each runner has his own individual strategies to running, but at the end of the day, the common strategy for the team is pack-running, according to Fleury.
Fleury wrote, “We like to do group running. At practice, we run in groups based on performance, and at meets we aim to run with the other kids we have been practicing with.”
“I love how tight this team is. We look out for each other, and I think that team strength is going to be the factor that sets us apart from our competition. Although I am primarily a middle distance runner during the track seasons, running cross country is a great way to train with the rest of the guys,” said Goldthwaite.
The team will take on St. Paul’s, who currently holds a 7-2 record, this Saturday.
