The team will compete in its final Andover/Exeter meet in two weeks.
Alex Schimmel ’22 crossed the finish line in the last leg of the boys 4×200 relay in 1:36.42 seconds, finishing more than four seconds ahead of the next relay team and breaking the school record for the Andover Boys Track and Field 4×200 relay at the first NEPSTA indoor meet held in the Snyder Center last Saturday.
At the NEPSTA meet, which was not scored, Andover was successful even without the efforts of many of its top athletes according to Alex Oder ’21, who broke the school record in the 55-Meter Dash at the meet.
In an email to The Phillipian, Oder wrote, “Considering the fact that many of our athletes are currently sick or injured, and two of our best distance runners were away competing in invitationals, I think we were pretty proud of our ability to match our competition despite the absences.”
Andover placed in nine different events on Saturday, and many athletes set personal records, according to Oder.
“In general, this was a pretty groundbreaking meet for us, especially so for our relay teams. Both the 4×200 and 4×400 girls relay teams swept the competition by large margins, and the boys 4×200 relay team broke the school’s record in addition to winning the race. On the individual side, we had a slew of personal bests and a few school and class records broken, especially in sprinting events like the [55-Meter Dash] and [55-Meter Hurdles],” wrote Odor.
In addition, over the weekend, Captain Alex Fleury ’20 and long distance runner Chris Ratcliffe PG’20 were unable to participate in the NEPSTA meet because they were competing at Invitationals in Boston.
On their absence, Isaac Heitmann ’22 said, “As a whole, our team is very proud of our state and national-level athletes, some of whom were away at invitational meets over the weekend. Because of this, our team is represented by these athletes as one that can provide an optimal training environment.”
Andover later competed a tri-meet against Lawrence High and Haverhill High on Wednesday, where it fell into third place behind Haverhill by half a point. According to Julio Dahl ’22, long distance runners and short distance runners swapped events and were still successful. Fleury, a long distance runner, broke a school record in the 300-Meter Dash with a time of 37.04 seconds.
Dahl said, “A lot of our athletes ran in races that they probably never had before. Long distance runners ran in short events and short distance runners ran in long events, and were still successful. I’m not sure who placed, but I know we had many first place finishers and athletes who were able to succeed in different events.”
Andover will compete against Phillips Exeter Academy, Governor’s, and Marianapolis in the annual 9th and 10th grade meet on Wednesday.
