Paving the way for Andover Girls Cross Country’s NEPSTA Division I Championship (Interschols) title, Grace Rademacher ’18 and Michaela Jones ’18 took third and fourth place overall with times of 19:10 and 19:16, respectively.
Andover finished the season with an undefeated 6-0 record and its first Championship victory since 2010.
“Looking back, what really set [our team] apart was our depth,” said Rademacher.
Parker Tope ’16 added, “Throughout the whole entire season we had really tight packs, and we had a lot of new people that had really strong seasons.”
With all of Andover’s five scoring runners placing within the first 12 places, the team scored an outstandingly low 32 points. Andover beat out second place Loomis Chaffee by a landslide of 63 points.
Peyton McGovern ’16 and Anoush Shehadeh ’15 finished sixth and seventh overall in 19:24 and 19:37, respectively. Four of Andover’s runners finished in the top ten overall places.
Carmen Bango ’16 finished in 12th with a time of 19:55. Sharon Platt ’15 and Tope rounded out Andover’s Top Seven with 28th and 29th overall finishes in 20:57 and 20:58, respectively.
Andover Girls Cross Country will graduate two Varsity Seniors: Shehadeh and Platt.
“It was our Seniors who really put the glue in the packs, kept everyone together, and that’s a lot of leadership and a lot of awesome running that we’re definitely going to miss on the team next year,” said Tope.
Sharon Zhang ’16 continued, “I would definitely say the connections that we had on the team [made the team really special]. This year, especially, I felt like our team was more of a family than… a team. I think that was due partially to how we made sure to include everyone on the team and motivate each other.”
Interschols marked the completion of Andover’s season. Fueled by a strong performance in the 2014 season, the team is already looking forward to next fall.
“[I’m looking forward to] being with the team again. I’m already sad that the season is over, and it’s only been a day,” said Zhang.
When asked what she was looking forward to next season, Tope replied, “Winning again, keeping it on top.”
Rademacher, Jones, McGovern, Shehadeh, Bango and Tope will compete at the Nike Cross Nationals regional championship in December.
