Alex Fleury ’20 sprinted down the Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) track, winning the 1500-Meter Race with a time of 3:57.5 last Saturday. Andover Boys Track & Field finished in third place at the meet, which hosted six schools.
Loomis Chaffee secured first place with 132.33 points, NMH second with 124 points, Andover third with 116.66 points, Avon Old Farms fourth with 79 points, Choate fifth with 6 points, and Chase Collegiate sixth with 1 point.
The following Wednesday, Andover raced again on its home track. The team’s hard work and dedication paid off as Andover earned its first win of the season with 229 points, followed by Concord Academy with 95 points, Worcester Academy in third with 62 points, Pingree with 61 points, Landmark with 44 points, and Cushing Academy with 31 points.
After their loss at NMH and the meet at home, the team did not allow the letdown from its loss affect its energy and continued to exhibit maximum effort in each race, according to Zach Moynihan ’21.
Alex Schimmel ’22 said, “There was always this feeling of ‘We’re going to lose, why even try the hardest if we’re going to end up losing?’ But the team for both NMH and especially the home meet really gave it their best. Especially the home meet; I think that the morale was higher knowing we had a bunch of fans, and it was at Andover, so we had everybody on the team there cheering. I think morale was a challenge we faced, but overall, we did really well on that.”
According to Abhi Tadikonda ’20, a great part of the team is injured, adding pressure as Interschols approaches. Nick Koobatian ’22 added that track meets take up a large portion of the day but the team does not let the length of the meets inhibit its ability to stay united.
“You’re not necessary running or participating for all of [the meet], so time stretches out for quite a long time… No matter who is running, you can hear their name from a mile away because everyone is cheering them on, which is one thing I absolutely love about this sport and more specifically, this team,” said Koobatian.
According to Alex Oder ’21, the saddest part about the impending conclusion of the season is that the team has just started to work together harmoniously and truly as a team.
Justin Wang ’19 said, “There aren’t that many Seniors on the team, so coming to the end of the season is really emotional for all of us. We all love each other, we support each other, and I’m going to miss this track so much as well as this team. Our spirit makes the worst days the best.”
On Saturday Andover will race in the Nepsta Division 1 Championship Interschols at Loomis Chaffee.
