Abby Otterbein PG’19 sprinted across the finish line with a time of 1:01.38, securing first place in her heat for the 400-Meter Dash. Andover Girls Indoor Track and Field traveled to Harvard to participate the New England Championships this past Sunday.
According to Myra Bhathena ’22 and Sadie Cheston-Harris ’20, the meet attracted a wide variety of athletes.
Bhathena said, “A lot of team and individuals [came] to have fun. There were some college athletes there from Northeastern and Suffolk, and we saw familiar faces from our previous meets, like from Phillips Exeter Academy and Governors.”
“There were a lot of different runners, not only from other prep schools but from other public schools and colleges as well. Also, there were some adults that registered for the event. So in my heat of the [800-Meter] there were other high school runners, from both private and public schools, a few college runners, and then some adults as well,” added Cheston-Harris.
Since the meet was an invitational, Andover could not bring all of its runners. Those who did attend, however, represented the team with strength and gave many strong performances, according to Angel Cleare ’19 and Bhathena.
Cleare added, “I think Tessah Almonacy [’21] did a really good job of getting everybody to warm up and be together. Also, Myra did a really good job in the hurdles, I think she placed fifth overall which was really cool.”
Bhathena continued, “I think Abby Otterbein stood out. She ran the [400-Meter] and ran it in 1:01 minutes. I think she was trying to go under a minute which is insanely awesome. So she stood out the most and she’s just always been so supportive as a leader on the team so that really shined through on Sunday.”
Although this meet was not as competitive as others this season, it was an overall positive experience for Andover runners, according to Kennedy Smith ’22.
“I know not a lot of people could say they’ve ran at Harvard, and I didn’t break any records or do anything super crazy, but it was fun to just run in that environment with people who are older than me. Even though I didn’t place super high, I beat a lot of college kids, so that was exciting,” said Smith.
