Hailey Novis ’13 dove into the last leg of the 200 medley and gained significant ground on Loomis’s top freestyler, marking the commencement of a very strong meet for Andover. Although Andover failed to capture first in all the events, the team’s incredible depth proved vital in its crushing victory over Loomis 120-66. Following the 200 medley relay, the 200 freestyle brought even more excitement, as Kristen Faulkner ’11, Emily Carrolo ’13 and Molly Levene ’12 took second, third and fourth place all within a second and a half asecond of each other. The 200 IM added to this impressive start as Lydia Azaret ’12 and Julia Torabi ’12 finished first and second place. Andover’s success proved particularly impressive since Loomis trains in a meter pool, as opposed to the yard pools that Andover and the rest of the league trains in. “Despite the extra length in meters, we performed particularly well in the 200 freestyle and IM and they were two exciting races to watch,” said Captain Alanna Waldman ’10. The 50 freestyle gave Andover its first sweep, as Novis, Peyton Morss ’10, and Lexi Moroney ’11 came in first, second and third. Moroney swam this race after recovering from a nose bleed, which she acquired during the warm up, but she still managed to place incredibly well. The divers once again awed the audience, as Kendall MacRae ’11, Emily Johnson ’10 and Whitney Glick ’11 finished first, second and third respectively. MacRae holds the second highest diving score in Andover’s history, while Johnson holds the sixth. “I was very impressed with our divers on Saturday…they were awesome!” said Coach Paul Murphy. The second half of the meet was just as exciting as the first, as Andover’s lead grew more pronounced. The 100 butterfly, although not bringing in many points, proved to be an exciting race as Torabi out-touched Loomis’ top finisher by a second. The 100 freestyle was much like the 200 freestyle in that Moroney, Morss and Levene came in within a second of each other. “Although we did not win the 100 or the 200 freestyle, our finishes in those events particularly show our freestyle depth, which is exceedingly important, not just in the individual events, but in the relays as well,” said Morss. The 400 freestyle gave Andover another first, second and third finish, with Julia Smachlo ’13 finishing first, followed one second later by Faulkner, and then Carrolo. Both Smachlo and Faulkner lapped two Loomis swimmers, and Carrolo finished ten seconds in front of Loomis’s top finisher. Faulkner said, “In switching from the 500 yard freestyle to the 400 meter freestyle, I had to completely revise my breathing pattern, my pacing, my stroke count, and my race strategy.” She continued, “The 400 meter race is over 30 seconds shorter than the 500 yard race, so I had to be careful not to conserve too much energy. Other events, such as the 200 freestyle, felt much longer, so I had to save enough energy so that I didn’t die at the end.” In the 200 freestyle relay, Andover finished first, third and fourth, with the A relay winning by 2 seconds, quite a margin for a relay. In both the 100 backstroke and 100 breastroke, Andover finished second, third and fourth. Although Andover did not have the top finish, the team still gained more points than Loomis in both events. A Loomis swimmer barely out-touched Theresa Faller ’11 in the 100 backstroke, and another out-touched Smachlo in the 100 breastroke.
