Despite an undefeated season and five finishers in the top fifteen, the Boys Cross Country team came lost to a charging Loomis Chaffee top seven, losing by four points in a devastating loss at the season-ending NEPSTA Division One Cross Country Championships hosted by Northfield Mount Hermon. The course at NMH was dismally soggy and muddy which made for extremely difficult and slippery racing conditions. Despite this, Captain Geoff Kwok ’10 had a positive outlook on the results of Saturday’s race. “The course was extremely difficult to run on. We were in a pit of mud and it was only by chance that some runners did not slip or fall. Every time we worked to regain our balance we wasted energy, and it was with a stroke of luck that our rivals managed to stay strong enough to get by our strong pack” said Kwok. Luck was a big factor that enabled Loomis to beat Andover as Andover’s number one, Renat Zalov ’11, did not run the race that Andover needed as he finished ninth. While all the runners struggled with slow times in the tough conditions, Matt Appleby ’11 took the helm for Andover and finished seventh overall. The race began with Patrick Wolber ’11 and Tim McLaughlin ’11 in the lead for Andover, with Appleby, Nick Kearns ’11 and Zalov not far behind, followed by Chris Batchelder ’11 farther back in the pack. This start formation was typical for the Andover pack, with McLaughlin in the lead, Hamilton just behind and Zalov biding his time in the middle. But the race did not develop as Andover hoped, as the once unbeatable pack was stretched out on the slick NMH course. As Zalov was unable to move up and push the whole Andover pack to victory, Loomis runners snuck into the holes that were usually filled by Andover runners. “Appleby moved way up in the race while Wolber and McLaughlin faded a little, and Zalov just couldn’t power through to the front as he would have liked,” said Coach Jon Stableford. The Andover boys also struggled in the last mile of the race, a treacherous finish that was comprised of steep rolling hills on a wet and muddy hay field. Appleby managed to kick to the finish, but it was not enough to stop four runners from passing him. Zalov tried in vain to catch the third Loomis runner. However, a heroic finish by Kearns deleted two points from the team’s score as he sprinted by two other runners in the last 500 meters, finishing a solid 10th behind Zalov. McLaughlin and Hamilton finished back to back in 14th and 15th positions respectively, followed later by Wolber in 22nd and Batchelder in 41st. Stableford said, “Five runners from Hotchkiss, Taft and Choate who ran well enough a week before to beat Loomis Chafee’s fourth and fifth runners all struggled in the mud and rain and finished far behind on Saturday, adding points to our score and lowering Loomis’ score. Everything came together for the winners.” Kwok said, “The team was down but I told everyone that there was a reason there was not a single senior in the top seven. The Championship will be Andover’s next year. Every runner gave everything they had out there.” He added, “There was not a single guy who did not look like he was going to collapse, and even now, days later, more than a few of us still have trouble walking. I think the thing we regret the most, however, is that we could not give coach Stableford the win that we all thought he deserved for his 20th year of coaching.”
