Last Saturday, Andover Crew competed in the Andover/Exeter Invitational at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. Many teams participated in the event including St. John’s Prep, Simsbury, Boston Latin, Northfield Mount Hermon and Brookline. Andover brought their first four boys and girls boats to this event and rowed well against tough competition. In a nail-biting fashion, B1 fell to a strong Exeter boat by 1.1 seconds. For the first part of the race, Andover led by three seats, getting off to a fast start. At about the halfway point, the boat lost its lead, and the boys were unable to re-take control of the race. Curtis Hon ’10 said, “We died near the end and finished about four to five seats behind Exeter after the final sprint.” Much like last week, B2 was able to overpower its opponent, beating second place Exeter by over seven seconds. Coach Peter Washburn said, “We had a great start and never looked back.” B2 is the only undefeated crew left in Andover’s top eight boats. The girls top two boats also performed well over the weekend, but they lost narrowly to crew powerhouse, Exeter. In the G1 race, Exeter got off to a quick start and held a four-seat lead heading into the final 500 meters against a resilient Andover boat. Exeter’s crew then began an early sprint with 400 meters left and beat Andover by five seconds. The G2 race was much like the first girl’s race as Andover lost to a tough Exeter squad by six seconds. G3 and G4 both placed second, as G3 lost to Boston Latin, while G4 suffered a defeat to another strong Exeter boat by only four seconds. On the boy’s side, B3 placed third in its race, finishing behind St. John’s Prep and Exeter. Overall, they were 10 seconds from the lead. Similarly, B4 placed third behind Exeter and St. John’s Prep nine seconds from the lead. Overall, Washburn is excited with the progress. He feels that the “third and fourth boats are still working and are improving” while the first boat “made progress over the past week.” Charlie Walters ’10 is ready to avenge B1’s loss to Exeter in the coming weeks. He said, “We’re going to work over the next few weeks to show them what we really have. Girls Coach Kathryn Green said, “We’ve been making good strides, and we look ready for the tough competition in the coming weeks.” Next week, the boys will send all six of their boats to Salisbury for a regatta with Salisbury and Brunswick. The girls face off against Groton School on Wednesday at home.
