Minutes ahead of any nearby competition, Post-Graduate Samantha Valentine ’17 zoomed past the finish line of the 2-Mile in first place to give Andover Girls Indoor Track & Field a hefty lead over Governor’s and Wilbraham. Andover won with 65 points to Governor’s 33 and Wilbraham & Monson’s 19 points. This win brought Andover’s record up to 2-0 on the season.
Valentine finished the 600-Yard Dash in first place with a time of 1:36.94 minutes and the 2-Mile with a time of 11:54.80 minutes. Krystiana Swain ’18 claimed second in the 600-Yard Dash with a time of 1:41.09 minutes. In the 2-Mile, Jessica Wang ’18 and Grace Rademacher ’18 finished in second and third, respectively. Wang finished in 13:15.93 minutes and Rademacher finished closely behind with a time of 13:36.86 minutes.
After a dominant performance in a 72-25.5-17.5 win against these same two schools in a previous meet, Andover was determined to come out just as strong in this meet.
Andover earned first, second, and fourth places in the 1-Mile. Eliza Bienstock ’18 finished in first place with a time of 6:27.87 minutes with Whitney Garden ’17 right behind at 6:29.42 minutes. Celeste Traub ’18 came in fourth with a time of 6:43.65 minutes.
Despite the long Winter Break that separated many athletes from their usual training, Andover was able to pick up where it left off and earn strong finishes across the board.
Swain said, “I think that this meet was a bit harder though in comparison to the first one because everyone is still getting back into the school routine, people are jet lagged, et cetera.”
Deyana Marsh ’17 said, “Competing after the break definitely made it harder than the first meet. If the break was not there then we would have gathered a rhythm to our season after we were able to set a really nice tone at our time trial meet. So many people, [however,] especially so many underclassmen, were able to compete so well today which was great to see and even better to cheer for.”
Marsh came in second in the 50-Yard hurdles with a time of 8.37 seconds and Ava Stills finished in fourth with a time of 9.09 seconds.
In the 50-Yard Dash, Fredericka Lucas ’18 finished second, trailing behind her competition by just 0.14 seconds with a time of 6.71 seconds. Captain Sidney Holder ’17 sprinted past the finish line 0.08 seconds after, earning third place with a time of 6.79 seconds.
Josephina Caico ’19 claimed first place in the 300-Yard sprint with a time of 42.25 seconds. Lucas gave Andover a fourth place finish with a time of 42.75 seconds.
Caico said, “300 is my favorite but most challenging race. Because it’s basically a full sprint for two laps, it’s very, very hard to pass someone on that second lap. It’s important to win the first, and I took the lead in my first lap. In the second straightaway of my second lap the Governor’s girl tried to overlap me, but this is where you have to really kick it so make sure that doesn’t happen, which I did, and finished strong.”
In the field events, Sanch Sen ’20 came in first in the long jump with a score of 15’8” and Holder followed in second with a score of 15’0”. Lucas scored first in the high jump with a clearing height of 4’8”.
Andover looks to continue its early success in its upcoming meet against Andover High and Wilbraham next Wednesday.
Editor’s Note: Eliza Bienstock is an Associate Online Producer and Jessica Wang is an Associate Video Editor for The Phillipian.
