Cal Brooks ’11 powered effortlessly up a huge hill twice at Proctor last Wednesday, turning out a phenomenal second place finish. Andover skied extremely well during the skate race, with Boys finishing a season best second overall and the Girls finishing third overall. Because of the recent warm weather, conditions were marginal at best, forcing Proctor to shorten their course into a two and a half kilometer loop that the racers skied twice. Co-Captain Mimi Tanski said, “The hill definitely hurt us, since we don’t really have hills to train on here.” Alex Salton ’11 said, “The hill was huge, and after pushing myself up it twice I was completely exhausted. At the end of the race I almost collapsed.” The downhill section was also treacherous, and the racers had to negotiate sharp turns at high speed. Coach Robinson said, “The course was getting very icy, especially on this long and windy downhill. Almost all of our girls fell at some point, but they all recovered and got going again.” Tanski finished first for the girls’ team and fourth overall, followed by Kelsey Jamieson ’12 in 16th place. Coach Robinson said, “Mimi had a good race as usual. Kelsey really moved up and had a good second lap. She kept a good tempo going the whole time and didn’t slow down much after the first lap.” Goody Gibbons ’11 finished next for the team, followed by Co-Captain Brenna Liponis ’10 and Alex Morrow ’12. Besides the course, the team had another obstacle to overcome: some of the racers’ boots became mixed up, and Tanski had to race in borrowed skis and boots. Tanski said, “It definitely felt different than I was used to, which might have affected me. It’s hard to tell how you did and what made you ski that way until you see the results.” The boys’ team had one goal in mind: to beat Proctor. In last week’s meet, the team finished two points behind Proctor. Cal Brooks ’11 took the best performance of the day finishing first for Andover and second overall. Max Block ’12 finished 23 seconds behind Brooks, continuing his streak of good races. Ben Ho ’11 and Scotty Flemming ’10 finished 14th and 17th respectively, working together throughout the race. Coach Robinson said, “Ben and Scotty moved up together, and both did really well. It was good teamwork.” Each racer started in a pair, and both Block and Ho went out with Proctor boys. Coach Robinson said, “I really wanted them to beat the Proctor kids, and they both did it. It was a great team performance overall, and showed that we have a solid team.” Yuto Watanabe ’11 and Salton finished 23rd and 24th, followed by PJ Blouin ’12 and B.J. Garry ’10 who rounded out the boys’ squad finishing 27th and 31st respectively. Next week the team will face much of the same competition in a classic-style race at Kimball Union Academy.
