Girls Track & Field recorded a majorly successful weekend on Saturday, claiming a victory at the New England Preparatory School Track and Field Association (NEPSTA) Championships. The team’s win follows its fifth-place finish last spring at the same meet. Andover also saw one state-wide and multiple personal and school records broken.
At the 2022 NEPSTA Championships, the Girls 4×400-Meter Relay team initially placed third, which was supposed to guarantee its victory in combined points. However, due to pacing rules — which disallow walking or running alongside another runner, the team was disqualified. Co-Captain Naima Reid ’25 described the significance of the team’s victory this past weekend, which she has longed for since her Junior Spring.
“My [Junior] year at [the NEPSTA Championships], the girls team was robbed of the victory. We, by points, were set to win. The 4×400[-Meter] Relay was the last event of the day and we needed those points. Getting third in the 4×400[-Meter] Relay would secure our win,” said Reid.
Reid continued, “Then, we ended up coming second at [the NEPSTA Championships]. This year, the girls were just so hungry to win. It wasn’t stress or tension, but it was just pure excitement and happiness because we knew that we could do it. We had faith in each other. So from 7:00 a.m. in the morning to the end of the day, it was just pure joy.”
The team’s 4×100-Meter Relay was composed of Caitlin Ly ’27, Ela Budzinski ’28, Julie Chan ’27, and Reid; at the NEPSTA Championships, it broke the meet record — previously 47.80 seconds — in 47.69 seconds. The school record previously stood at 48.43 seconds. Additionally, the relay team broke the Massachusetts high school record, which was formerly 47.92 seconds. Leading up to the relay team’s record-breaking performance, Ly commented on the squad’s first race together — following a team member’s injury — in its final meet at home.
“At our last home meet, we were just a tenth of a second away from the school record… We also made a lot of progress since that was our first time running the relay with those people. We were able to get a really good time because our handoffs were super smooth,” said Ly.
Ly tripled in events, winning with Andover’s record-breaking 4×100-Meter Relay Team and in the 100-Meter in 12.23 seconds. She finished second in the 200-Meter in 25.39 seconds. Budzinski commented on Ly’s achievements.
“Caitlin scored 28 points for the team because she ran the 4×100[-Meter Relay], the 100[-Meter]. She won the 100[-Meter] and then she ran the 200[-Meter] with a massive [personal record] and she came in second,” said Budzinski.
Amelia Alvazzi ’26 competed in two grueling distance events, triumphing in both races. Specifically, she finished the 1500-Meter in 4:38.90 and 10:04.06 in the 3-Kilometer. Reid elaborated on the importance of Alvazzi’s performance with respect to the team’s score.
“Amelia Alvazzi… scored 20 points for our team. In total, we finished the day with 11[1] points. She basically earned a fifth of our team’s score just as one solo runner. She came first in the 3[-Kilometer] and first in the 1500[-Meter]. Both of her race races were just so strategic. She would sit behind the fastest girls, and then in the last 100 or 200 meters, she would just kick to win the finish,” said Reid.
Gracie Aziabor ’26 gave insight into the atmosphere at the NEPSTA Championships. She shared how, going into the meet, the team was energetic and full of competitive spirit.
“The whole team came in really excited to perform. We knew that we really had a contending chance in the top three for both girls and boys going in, so I think that fired up the competitive spirit for both parts of the team,” said Aziabor.
Aziabor continued, “[The meet] started off really strong with the field events and it continued on in the track events just because support from both sides of the team throughout the whole meet was really good. In general, [the team] really thrives at those larger meets with a lot of competition.”
Girls Track & Field will battle Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday for its final meet of the season.
Editor’s Note: Gracie Aziabor ’26 is a Layout Editor for The Phillipian.
