Boys Cross Country competed in the Manchester Invitational last Saturday, racing against a field that included Pinkerton and Concord. In the 5-Kilometer Varsity race, the team placed 15th out of 29 teams, with Andover’s top three finishers Cameron Butler ’28 (17:37.1), Lincoln Strandberg ’30 (17:52.7), and Devin Akyali ’29 (18:04.8) all running impressive races against a competitive field. In the two-mile freshman race, Andover came in first, with Ismael Montero ’30 besting over 150 other runners in 11:12.4 to win the division.
Being the opening meet of the season, this was the first race for many new runners like Strandberg. He described the team’s preparation for the meet.
“Before the meet, we did a lot of training to get us ready for the first meet. We did hill work for the course hills, and we did some recovery stuff the day before. Some of the Varsity guys and I went into the ice bath in Snyder, and that was fun. Everyone seemed super hyped for the meet, going to Commons at 6:30 [a.m.] for team breakfast on Saturday morning, and it was super fun,” said Strandberg.
Set at Derryfield Park in Manchester, New Hampshire, this course is known for many rough hills that make pacing critical. Akyali described the team’s pacing strategy and how it used downhills to its advantage.
“[This] is an extremely rough course. It is one of, if not the hardest course we run, and there’s a lot of really rough hills. If you go out too fast and go too hard on those hills, you will die out, so we had to find a good mix of not going out too hard but also not getting caught in a pack. Mostly our race plan was to try to maintain effort, not pace, on the hills. When you come off those flats and reach those downhills, everyone else wants to slow down. When they get tired, that’s when they get discouraged, so that’s when [the team] wants to kick it up and make moves,” said Akyali.
Being on a steep hill, the start line caused visible worry for new runners. To ease those pre-race nerves, Teddy Frangakis ’27 said the team encouraged runners before the race through a pre-race ritual.
“Before the race, we do a team huddle with words of motivation, basically making sure they know they have it in them and that they’re strong runners. Being able to tell them upfront that they’re strong and know how to tackle this course, based on their own mental game, is important,” said Frangakis.
Akyali praised Sebastián Vermut ’27 for his results, but also for encouraging younger runners. Vermut finished in the top five, earning points for the team in his first meet on Varsity.
“Vermut, in his first-ever time running [for] Varsity, scored points for the team, which was amazing to see because that guy works so hard and he really holds the team together. He always encourages everyone, and everyone appreciates that guy. It was great to run alongside these guys that I love to train with,” said Akyali.
Following the invitational, the team is preparing for the Black Bear Invitational. Vermut shared some insights into how this meet at Manchester sets the tone for the rest of the season, and what the team learned from it.
“This meet is really an opener for the coming season. Last season, we lost a lot of runners, including some of our top Varsity runners, but we’re getting into a rhythm. This season, we have so many new runners, and it is a great start as our team keeps growing. So right now, we’re already doing better than last year for our Varsity race. We placed a lot higher than we did last year at Manchester. [The season] so far has been through the roof, and I can’t wait to see it for the upcoming meets, specifically this Saturday,” said Vermut.
Boys Cross Country will travel to the Black Bear Invitational on Saturday.
