The Andover Boys Cross Country team won another quad-meet against Deerfield, Exeter, and St. Paul’s. The atmosphere of family weekend and a myriad of PRs contributed to making this victory more memorable.
Jacob Kuelps ’25, one of the team’s captains, highlighted the individuals who made a significant impact during the meet. Notably, Arashi Hunter ’25 finished with the second fastest time on the Andover course of all time and also took the overall victory of the meet.
“Last weekend, our standout runner was definitely Arashi Hunter. He PR’d and won pretty comfortably. It was great seeing him tear up the course. He’s now number two on the all-time list for a PR on the home course, so it was great to see him crush it,” said Kuelps.
Kuelps also offers valuable insights into leadership responsibilities, particularly in keeping team morale and motivation high—especially when nerves run high before a race. He always makes sure to be a presence both on and off the course for the other runners.
“As a captain, my role is about getting the team hyped up before the meet and reminding them of fundamentals like tangents and leaving it all on the course. I like to share the quote of the week to motivate them. If I’m not running, I give words of encouragement on the harder sections, telling them they’re in a great spot or to stay with a group. I try to give them a sense of presence in a race that is chaotic and tiring,” said Kuelps.
Bruce Ru ’28 also praised the team’s seniors, who ran their last home meet of their high school careers this weekend. He noted that, although it was their last race, they focused on encouraging the other runners.
“Personally, I think all the seniors, especially the captains, stood out. This was the last meet of their entire high school careers, a very important moment, and they continued to inspire everyone. Knowing it was their last opportunity, to do that made it even more impactful,” Ru said.
Despite the team’s win, Ru thinks the team could have focused more on conditioning their bodies for the meet, whether getting enough sleep or paying more attention to stretching after their workouts. He stressed the importance of self-care and taking care of their health, both mental and physical.
“As for areas to improve, people could be more prepared for races. For instance, runners shouldn’t get only four hours of sleep the day before. Cross-country, being a long commitment, means it’s important to take care of oneself, which can be challenging as school becomes more stressful. Training hard is great, but we also want to avoid injuries, so focusing on self-care in training would be beneficial.” said Ru.
Moving forward, Alfonso Gonzalez-Cano ’27 sees the team’s ability to run on grass as a big area for improvement. He states that it’s an often overlooked part of the course, with the rocky Sanctuary being the main place of training for the team. He also thinks it would be helpful for the upcoming INTERSCHOLS meet, one of the biggest events in the Boys Cross Country calendar.
“Leading up to this event, we’ve been training for INTERSCHOLS, which will be in two weeks. Since it takes place entirely on grass, we’ve been conditioning ourselves to handle grass better. Our home course features the Sanctuary, which has a harder, rocky surface that we’ve been training on most of the season. However, the Great Lawn, a grass area we only encounter at the start and finish, actually takes about six minutes of the race,” said Gonzalez-Cano.
This week, the team heads to Exeter for its penultimate race of the season, aiming to extend the winning streak from last year.
