New star Michael Frasco ’12 led the way for Andover Boys Cross Country as he breezed past the competition in last Sunday’s ninth annual Jack Kerouac 5K road race.
About half way through the race, Frasco bolted ahead of the pack to chase down the leader of the group, saying “After I caught up to the leader around mile 2.5, I could tell from his breathing and his stride that he was really hurting. I knew that I had the victory locked up. I just coasted to the finish line.”
At the beginning of the race, Andover settled into a brisk race cadence that was fast enough to have all seven runners finish well. Completing the race in about 18 minutes, Matt Fischetti ’14 placed third.
Andover’s strategy, suggested by Matt Lloyd-Thomas ’12, was to run in a pack, changing the lead every two or three minutes. Runner JD Schink ‘13 said, “By and large, this race was a good ‘work-out.’ Most importantly it showed that a ‘pack’ appears to be developing between some of the top tier runners.”
Frasco agreed, saying, “While running is a very individual sport, there is a crucial relationship between teammates. So part of the point of running the road race was to build that team chemistry.”
Unfortunately, Andover missed some of its fastest runners, such as captain James Hamilton ’12. According to Schink, “the coaches are being cautious so [that the hurt runners] don’t injure themselves, since they have a history as endurance athletes but not as runners.”
The race was good practice, allowing Andover to gain experience before its first official meet on Saturday, hosted by NMH. This weekend’s meet will be Andover’s first chance to scout out the some of its biggest competition. Said Coach Jeff Domina, “Several schools will be there, but we’re most interested in Loomis.”
The team hopes to train hard in preparation for NMH. Coach Domina plans to mix up the practices “based on the rhythm of the training week and the needs of the team.” He said, “a typical week involves some combination of distance miles, hills, recovery miles, speed work, and competition.”
Looking further down the road, Frasco said, “I think that the cross country team is going to win Interschols this year. We have an amazing group of runners who are all really pushing themselves in every workout.”
Andover anxiously anticipates its first real race at NMH on Saturday.
