Andover’s first boys boat overcame a late deficit to defeat both Brunswick and Salisbury on Saturday in its first win of the season. While the girls faced off against Groton School at home, the boys sent all six boats to Salisbury, and both teams earned victories. ?The boys rowed spectacularly at Salisbury as in addition to B1, B2, B4, and B5 all defeated their Salisbury and Brunswick counterparts. In a beautiful comeback, the first boat fought off a strong Salisbury boat, cutting a 3/4 of a length lead in 500 meters. In the end, the boat defeated Salisbury by .4 seconds. Charlie Walters ’10 said, “We made a move, took up our rating, and caught up with the Salisbury boat. It felt great to earn our first win of the season, and we look forward to building upon this and taking down St. Paul’s next week.” ?? The boys second boat continued its undefeated streak as it easily beat Salisbury by over seven seconds. Walters is also excited with the progress of the 2nd boat. “They got out ahead and simply pulled away,” he said.?? Unfortunately, the boy’s third boat was disqualified late in the race for a lane violation. B4 rebounded from a tough loss to Exeter last week, beating Brunswick by over 15 seconds. In the last race of the day, B5 and B6 faced Brunswick’s 5th boat. While B5 easily defeated Brunswick by 11 seconds, the 6th boat could not get anything going in a third place finish. On the girls side, a mix of rowers from the fourth and fifth boats participated in races against the Groton School on Wednesday. While many of the girls were nervous as this was first time out on the water, they performed well, easily overcoming Groton’s crews. Mimi Leggett ’13 and her crew encountered several problems throughout their race as their cox box was not working. Eventually the boat overcame these problems, starting strong and stayed strong throughout. In the other race, Andover easily defeated Groton’s crew. Coach Peter Washburn is impressed with the progress of the first boat and expects much more from this talented group of boys. “Even though we haven’t worked on a sprint yet, the boys maintained focus and drive throughout the race,” he said.?? Coach Kathryn Green said, “I’m really encouraged by how our lesser-experienced girls rowed this weekend.” This Saturday, the boys and girls go to St. Paul’s to face the host team, CRI, and Manchester.
