In a highly anticipated and equally thrilling last home meet on Wednesday, Andover Girls Track fell to Exeter 71-33. Although the end results were not satisfying, many girls saw greatly improved times and demonstrated their will to win in many a close race. Georgina Norton ’09 led the distance group, with a third place finish in the mile with a time of 5:41 and second place in the two mile in12:23. Tavie Abell ’10’s third place finish in the 1000-meter, with a time of 3:11, also put Andover on the scoreboard. The girls saw great success in the sprints, with Alexis Dawkins ’10 taking second place in the 600-meter by less than half a second and a setting personal best time behind Exeter’s “secret weapon” Morgan Kelly. Dawkins further asserted herself as a crucial member to the Andover squad by winning the Long Jump with 15 feet, 8 inches. Dawkins and Kelly went neck and neck in the leadoff leg of the four by 400-meter relay. But the competition out-sprinted Andover by less than half a second. The 300-meter dash was an equally heated race. Amanda Brisco ’10 took second place overall while running in the second heat. With a strong kick in her final lap she managed to achieve a personal best time of 41.8 seconds. Brisco was closely followed by Jasmine Edison ’11, a talented junior who has made a name for herself on the team. Brisco went on to take third place in the 50-meter Dash with a time of 6.82 seconds, behind Captain Simone Hill ’08’s vital win in the event in 6.63 seconds. Sophie Shimer ’09 shocked the crowd with yet another personal best of 8.5 seconds, capturing first place in the 50-meter Hurdles. Shortly after the meet, Captain Hill remarked, “It’s been a really great season, and Exeter has some very tough competition and a very big team, as they have always brought in the past.” She continued, “But we’ve been working hard over the weeks to improve our depth, and even if things didn’t go as we’d hoped, everyone gave it their best, and in the end, that’s what counts.” Hill is the only graduating senior girl. Coach Lang was optimistic as well, and in the tightly knit team huddle that followed, he and the captains reminded the team, “We’ll get them in the spring.” Although the formal meet season is now over, a select group will continue training to compete for the USA Track and Field Championships at Harvard a week from this Sunday.
