This past weekend, Andover Girls Swimming & Diving came head to head with rival Phillips Exeter Academy in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships. Both teams totaled 275 points, tying for eighth place out of the 20 teams that competed this past weekend.
Just three days later, Andover faced Exeter yet again in its final home meet of the season, coming out victorious with a score of 100 over Exeter’s 86.
Co-Captain Macey Mannion ’19 was one of the few individuals who advanced to the final rounds of the tournament, making it all the way to the championships for the 500-Yard Freestyle this past weekend.
“I think it was just notable because she’s our captain and she was one of the only people who made it back that day. And it was just really awesome to see her grind out a swim and push through it, which boosted the team’s morale,” said Wadell.
In the 100-Yard Breastroke, Graeleigh Jones ’21, Emily Warren ’21, and Kathleen Ty ’19 earned spots in the A, B, and C finals, according to Grace Hitchcock ’20.
“We had three girls that did really well in the 100-Yard Breastroke, three girls that made it back to finals, one in the A, one in the B, and one in the C. And all three of them in [the preliminary finals] and finals did extremely well, season best, so that was really awesome to be in finals and standing behind their lane cheering for them.” said Hitchcock.
Jones later advanced to the finals of both the 100-Yard Butterfly and and 100-Yard Breastroke, placing 6th and 5th in those races, respectively.
According to Claire Davis ’20, the diving team also had a positive mindset going into every event.
Davis said, “ I think we did a good job of that, just being in the mindset of one dive and once that dive is over, not thinking about it again whether it went bad or went good.”
As for Wednesday’s meet against Exeter, Andover placed first in 100-Yard Breastroke, which secured its previously close lead against Exeter, according to Hwang.
“Graeleigh Jones, Kathleen Ty, and Alexa Dicenso [’21] all are and have alway been very consistent and reliable. They placed first, second, and third and their times were also very close to each other. Not only was it great that they could place first, second, and third, but this increased our close lead that we had and encouraged everyone to swim even faster.” said Hwang.
Andover Girls Swimming & Diving will head to Interschols for Diving on Wednesday and will compete in New England Championships when the team returns from Spring Break on March 1.
