In the third leg of the 4×400-Meter relay, Myra Bhathena ’22 closed the gap between her and her Phillips Exeter Academy opponent, setting Abbey Otterbein PG’19 up for a successful 61 second final leg to beat Exeter with a school record-breaking time of 4:17:35. Andover surpassed the previous school record by two hundredths of a second. Despite the success of the 4×400-Meter Relay, Andover Girls Indoor Track & Field fell to Exeter 30-79 away on Wednesday.
“Finishing off by winning the 4×400-Meter was really exciting and it boosted the moral a lot. I think everyone feels pretty well about how they performed in this meet and the overall outcome,” said Sadie Cheston-Harris ’20.
In addition to running the final leg of the 4×400-Meter, Otterbein set a new personal record in the high jump with a height of 4’4” to claim a first place finish. Additionally, she ran a 44.32 in the 300-Meter and a 1:43:67 in the 600-Meter, setting personal records in both events. Otterbein was a standout competitor for Andover throughout all of the events she competed in, according to Cheston-Harris.
“She won the high jump and she also ran the anchor leg of the 4×400 Relay, so she did a really great job today,” said Cheston-Harris.
According to Charlotte Whitehurst ’22, Andover’s positive attitude enabled it to achieve success despite the loss.
“We all tried super hard. I know that Exeter probably did a little better than us but I think we all showed up, we had a lot of enthusiasm and energy, even when we weren’t running in the races.”
Exeter’s depth and consistency throughout its program ultimately led it to clench the win, according to Captain Georgia Ezell ’19.
Ezell said, “[The] retention of athletes was a strength and an advantage that Exeter held over us this year. I saw a lot of familiar faces from my [Junior] year which just shows how consistent they are.”
Andover will compete in the United States Track and Field New England Championship this Sunday.