After suffering a narrow loss to Exeter in its final dual meet, Andover Girls Swimming rebounded to defeat its rival at Interschols last Saturday. Although the team expected to finish fourth, numerous season best times promoted Andover to third. The 200 Medley Relay squad of Eva Simitch-Warke ’09, Allie Hall ’10, Annie Glancy ’09, and Lexi Moroney ’11 captured fifth place in the event with an impressive time of 1:54.06. The 200 Freestyle gave an accurate preview of how well the team would perform throughout the meet. Becca MacRae ’09 and Stephanie Moroney ’09 both posted season bests in 2:09.89 and 2:10.26, respectively. In the tension-filled finals of the event, Kristen Faulkner ’11 overcame the pressure and the talented field to take fourth place and a record best time of 1:58.05. In the 200 Individual Medley, Glancy swam a season best of 2:14.07 to capture fifth. Teri Faller ’11 also swam a season best of 2:18.65 for eighth place. Aubrey Zimmerling ’09 swam a beautiful race, posting a season best of 2:23.76, while Juliana Reider ’10 swam a strong 2:24.46. In the most closely contested race of the day, Peyton Morss ’10 used her long arms and stellar kick to snag fourth in the 50 Freestyle, swimming a season best of 24.82. Moroney ’11 took tenth, posting a season best of 25.68. Mai Kristofferson ’09 and Alanna Waldman ’10 both had exciting races, swimming season bests of 26.03 (for a 13th place finish) and 26.07, respectively. Although Emily Johnson ’10 slipped on the board during the diving event, her fluid and graceful dives were still strong enough for her to capture 14th place. In the 100 Butterfly, Glancy swam a stunning race to finish second in a season best of 1:00.24. Greta Martin ’09 achieved a season best of 1:03.34, and Celia Lewis ’10 and Waldman posted strong swims of 1:04.24 and 1:05.25, respectively. Morss swam the perfect race in the 100 Freestyle to capture the New England Champion title. The field was even for the first half of the race, but then Morss pulled away. Morss’ lead kept growing. She touched the wall in 53.64, almost a second and over a body length ahead of second place. Kristofferson and Captain Caitlin Feeney ’08 both swam amazing times for season bests, posting 56.72 and 57.76, respectively. Moroney ’11 also had a strong swim with a time of 57.11. For Andover’s distance swimmers, who have been working extremely hard at practice, the meet was truly a success. Faulkner cut three seconds from her 500 Freestyle for a time of 5:11.82, finishing fourth, and Hall dropped nine seconds for a time of 5:12.41, coming in 5th. Lewis cut eight seconds, finishing with a time of 5:30.07. Abby Levene ’09 dropped 21 seconds for a season and best of 5:41.03. The 200 Freestyle Relay proved to be controversial. Andover’s squad of Kristofferson, Morss, Moroney ’11, and Faulkner swam a closely contested race for first against Hopkins. The finish was so close, officials could not determine from sight who won. Unfortunately, the electric timing system in Andover’s lane malfunctioned so officials used the backup hand timer’s time. The timer recorded Andover finishing in 1:41.67. Hopkins finished in 1:41.66. Andover took second by one-one-hundredth of a second. In the 100 Backstroke, Simitch Warke took sixth place with a season best of 1:02.44. Teri Faller swam a strong race for ninth, also with a season best of 1:02.27. Sarah Pucillo ’08 swam an amazing season best of 1:09.82, and Veronica Faller ’09 had a strong swim, with a time of 1:05.39. Hall took fifth in the 100 Breaststroke, posting a season best of 1:09.76. Season bests were also seen from Tina Kit ’09 (1:12.98), Zimmerling (1:16.30) and Kimberly Chang ’08 (1:18.87). In the 400 Freestyle Relay Andover and Hopkins once again pulled far ahead of the other competitors. The team of Morss, Kristofferson, Glancy, and Faulkner was narrowly outtouched and finished second again in 3:39.08. With a final score of 273 points, Andover capped off its 7-3 season with a third place finish. Feeney said, “Interschols was a great way to end the season – we maintained good energy and confidence, and we should be proud of our cohesion and improvement. Feeney continued, “I admire the dedication and passion of these girls.” Kit added, “Even though we swam individual events, each swim was for the team.” Zimmerling agreed, saying, “We all went home in high spirits and with a great sense of accomplishment.” Only graduating three seniors this spring, Andover is already looking forward to its extremely promising 2008-2009 season.
