Led by the spectacular solo performance of Captain Arielle Filiberti ’07, the Girls A Cycling team placed first overall at Gould Academy. The Boys A and B shared similar success, both placing second overall. The 22-mile course passed through Grafton Notch at the base of Sunday River Ski Resort in Bethel, Maine. The course is one of the hillier courses of the season, with several short, steep inclines in the second half of the race. In the Girls A race, Captain Filiberti placed first followed by Lilli Stein ’07 and Hilary Rich ’09, who placed second and third, respectively. Filiberti broke away from the pack with three other riders around the 10th mile, just before the hills started. Not satisfied with the pace of the other three girls, Filiberti attacked again. “The other two girls didn’t want to do any of the work so I just decided to go it alone,” Filiberti said. Filiberti soloed the rest of the race, gaining four minutes over the rest of the pack. The main group caught the three other riders in the breakaway. In the final sprint Stein and Rich won the final sprint, giving Andover the top three places. “The sweep in the Girls A was pretty impressive,” Coach Zaeder said. “We really proved that we dominate the Girls A league.” In the Boys A race, Jonas Allerbeck ’07 placed first for Andover, coming in fourth overall. The Boys A group stayed intact until the start of the hills, during which a slight acceleration fractured the pack immediately. Two riders were able to break away from the rest of the group. Allerbeck stayed with the first chase group of seven riders while Andrew Clay ’08 and James Krendel-Clark ’09 joined the second chase group about two hundred yards back. The two leaders maintained separation until the finish, closely followed by Allerbeck’s group. In the final sprint, Allerbeck placed second. “If I had another 20 meters I would have been able to beat the Exeter guy in front of me, but I just started sprinting a bit too late,” Allerbeck said. The chase group with Clay and Krendel-Clark finished close behind Allerbeck’s group. Clay and Krendel-Clark took first and second, respectively, among their group in the final sprint. Overall, the Boys A team placed a close second behind Gould Academy. “It was a pretty solid performance by the Boys A, considering the course,” Coach Wilmer said. “The course was well suited to the team’s German, Jonas, whose performance was, as they say in Germany, ’toll.’” In he Boys B race, Andover set a good pace up the hills, fracturing the pack. In the final sprint, Walker Washburn ’08 led until the last final few meters, when he was passed by three other riders. Washburn finished fourth while Mike Discenza ’09 finished in seventh. “It’s unfortunate that I got beat at the line by three other guys,” Washburn said. “That said, I felt I really earned it.” The Boys B ended up placing second to Exeter. The team’s next race is a team time trial at Exeter on Saturday.
