Three members of the team equaled or broke New England and Pool records in the 100-Meter Breaststroke on Saturday.
In the second heat of the 200-Meter Freestyle, Co-Captains Sam Donchi ’20 and Max Hunger ’20—who now holds the New England, school, and Andover pool records in the event—broke the existing Short-Course Meter (SCM) pool and New England records. Hunger edged out Donchi by 1.02 seconds to claim the title with a time of 1:52.90.
This record was one of three set by Hunger and one of seven pool records, including six New England SCM records, set by the team throughout the day on Saturday. The team defeated Loomis Chafee 134-49 and Hopkins 136-49 in a tri-meet at Loomis Chafee, improving its dual-meet record to 5-0 this season.
According to Alexander Grande ’21 and Gregor Deveau ’21, this meet was particularly special as it was the only short-course meter meet for of season. At this meet last year, the team also set numerous records, including a national high school SCM 200-Medley Relay record.
“This was our only meet in short course meters, it was weird, you could definitely feel the difference swimming but it was just a time to show what we could do [when] we had come off of a hard week of training,” said Grande.
Deveau added, “It was our first SCM meet so it took some time to adjust but everybody did a good job. There were tons of records that were broken at the meet, both New England and pool records, so that was really fun to see. I think we’re just looking forward to our next meet against [Deerfield Academy]. It’s going to be a good time.”
Because Andover went into this meet after weeks of difficult training and no rest, the team anticipates drops in time at Easterns in two weeks, according to Deveau and Hunger.
“I think we’ve been training super hard and our training has been paying off, especially when we go into these championship meets where we’ll be rested and wearing our racing suits. It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly we can really go because at all of our dual meets we’re exhausted, we’re tired, and all of our bodies are super sore. It’s really impressive that we’re able to break records like that so when we’re ready and set to go at championship meets it’s going to be really great,” said Deveau.
Hunger added, “I think that it’s a lot of good training and a lot of good people stepping up at the right moments. Knowing when to get out there and just race and knowing when to put your head down and just train. I think it speaks a lot that we’re able to break records at this point in the season, it just goes to show that our team is just getting prepared for greater things to come.”
Andover will face Deerfield away on Saturday in its final dual meet before Easterns.
