This past weekend, Girls Cross Country triumphed over Deerfield Academy (Deerfield), Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), Choate, and Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter) in the Deerfield Academy Invitational. Essential to the team’s victory, Anya Budzinski ’26 earned first place with a 35 second personal record (PR) of 18:35.57, followed by newcomers Sophie Stetson ’29 and Maddie Marshall ’29, who placed second and third in 19:25.41 and 19:32.01, respectively. Overall, the team watched 14 members post PRs.
Cross country scoring rewards teams that pack their top finishers together, and Andover did exactly that: six of its runners placed in the top ten. In fact, because of this, the team placed 21 points ahead of the second place team, Exeter. Budzinski emphasized the value of running as a unit, highlighting shared energy that encouraged one another and helped to uplift the group.
“Something that was very essential was how the top five runners were the ones who scored. The top five were really able to work together. It’s key for the top five to be as close together as they can to get the lowest amount of points possible to win, so the way that our top five was able to work together and feel off each other’s energy was really good,” said Budzinski.
Additionally, Budzinski explained that since the team typically trains to overcome difficult courses that include many hills, it was able to dominate Deerfield’s flatter course.
“The course was really fast. It was a very flat course and that definitely played to our strengths. We really emphasize hills in our training, and just to get a flat course, we could go so much faster than we usually can with hills. The consistent training from both the summer and leading into the season really benefited us,” said Budzinski.
Hannah Jung ’28 highlighted the race strategy that propelled the group forward, a plan underscored by shared cohesion and team pacing as each member of the team surrounded themselves with their teammates.
“Our team did a really good job of sticking together as a pack throughout the race. I was able to get a PR because of my teammates up in front of me and the motivation to stick with them throughout the race. There might’ve been moments when other people were starting to feel fatigued, but knowing that their friends and the people they trained alongside with were either right behind them, beside them, or in front of them helped keep the motivation going,” said Jung.
Cross country is both an athletic and mental sport, and all encouragement contributes to the team’s success. When the team’s athletes pass one another, Andover runners help each other maintain a positive mentality with the phrase “spark it.” Anya Casey ’28, who placed tenth with a PR of 20:11.76, received this support specifically from teammates Hannah Jung ’28 and Co-Captains Chloe Song ’26 and Zoe Von Eckersberg ’26.
“Hannah Jung encouraged me while I was running personally, she’s always great, she always says spark it whenever she passes someone. Our captains, Chloe and Zoe, were also both really supportive, hyping everyone up and giving us words of encouragement. Chloe, specifically, gave me words of encouragement during our first mile, she was telling me to stick with it, which was really great. A lot of people were running together. Sophie Stetson and Maddie Marshall were a good pair together. Corinne Spade [’27] and Hannah Jung both had really good kicks in the final mile, they were running close together,” said Casey.
From the gunshot signaling the start of the race, Budzinski led the way for the runners, earning herself a personal record and setting the tone for the rest of the team. Jung praised her standout performance that energized the rest of the team to run faster.
“Our Senior, Anya Budzinski, she PR’d by over 30 seconds. She led our entire race from the start to finish and she finished a minute in front of the next runner which was also Andover and she just looked really strong throughout the entire race,” said Jung.
Girls Cross Country looks to carry its momentum against rival Exeter on Saturday.
