Henry Hearle ’20, Remy de Saint Phalle ’23, Co-Captain Eli Newell ’20, and Sam Gallaudet ’23 were all part of the Boys A Relay team this Wednesday.
Racing to the finish line, Sam Gallaudet ’23 finished in fourth place, helping Andover Nordic place sixth overall for boys while the girls placed fifth this past Wednesday at the Nepsac Championships in Dorchester, N.H..
In addition to Gallaudet’s fourth place finish, Co-Captain Eli Newell ’20 placed eighth and Remy de Saint Phalle ’23 placed 26th. On the girls side, Claire de Saint Phalle ’21 was Andover’s top finisher at 12th place, with Co-Captain Posie Millett ’20 and Kate Pfister ’21 placing 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
According to Pfister, the team, especially the group of Seniors who raced for the last time, motivated itself by wanting to end the season on a positive note.
Pfister said, “I think the meet went really well. We had a few Seniors on this race who were pretty emotional because it was their last race. Everyone just gave it their all knowing it was the last race of the season… It was definitely a big race for the Seniors, both of our captains, Eli and Posie, it was their last race. They’ve both been doing it for a few years of skiing, as well as Henry [Hearle ’20]… I know on our relay team we were all like, ‘Race for the Seniors.’”
Despite numerous challenges the team faced throughout the day, Andover still stayed positive and enjoyed the meet, according to Claire de Saint Phalle.
“The snow conditions were kind of difficult, it was pretty slow skiing, and the snow was very heavy which isn’t always fun to ski in, and we had to get up really early to get there, which was kind of rough, but we all had fun and enjoyed the day. It was a good note to end the season with,” said de Saint Phalle.
Leading up to this week’s competition, Andover took it easier in practice, relying on the hard work the team put in earlier in the season.
“The past couple weeks have kind of been winding down in practice, we had already done all of our conditioning earlier in the season, so at this point it was just depending on how hard we worked early on. This week, basically all we did was wax our skis and go on twenty minute runs. This week, and even last week, was winding down with shorter quicker workouts and less intensity,” said Pfister.
She continued, “Even though Andover didn’t get first, we all gave [the meet] everything we had and we’re really happy with how it went and how much work we put into this season.”
