Sean Pao ’26 competes during NEPSTA at Snyder Center.
On Saturday, Boys and Girls Indoor Track hosted the New England Prep School Track Association (NEPSTA) All-Comers meet. Around 500 athletes from around 25 schools traveled to the event, which took place at the Snyder Center. On Wednesday, in its final meet of the regular season, Indoor Track traveled to Phillips Academy Exeter (Exeter). Ultimately, Andover’s Boys fell short to Exeter, while Girls triumphed in a narrow victory.
The hundreds of athletes created an atmosphere that tested Andover’s ability to perform under pressure.
“This [meet] was open to so many different schools — there were more than 25 teams competing and hundreds of entries. Snyder was packed, and the competition was a lot tougher just because of the number of people there,” said Brady Nelson ’27.
Leading up to NEPSTA All-Comers, Indoor Track focused on refining technical aspects. Nelson reflected on the team’s preparation, highlighting the importance of block work and technical details in practice while also keeping in mind the conditioning of the athletes.
“We focused a lot on block work and technical details. We didn’t do any super hard workouts, just a lot of reps to make sure our form was right, our starts were strong, and we were getting the motions down properly,” said Nelson.
Andover athletes delivered standout performances on Saturday, including Caitlin Ly ‘27’s 55-Meter Dash, in which she broke the school record in 7.25 and tied the Snyder Center facility record.
“The school record was something I had been chasing all season. Every time I raced the 55, I felt this pressure to break it, and looking back, I don’t think that was the best mindset to have. After every race where I fell short, it was hard to stay hopeful,” said Ly.
In lieu of Ly’s performance, Co-Captain Russell Robinson ’25 highlighted the depth of Andover’s Track and Field program.
“One of our biggest strengths is that we have a really deep program. A lot of our top runners are younger, and we have a strong group of freshmen coming up. This is probably the most competitive we’ve ever been, and the scary part is that we’re only going to get better in the next year or two. That being said, our weakness is inexperience. Since a lot of our best athletes are young, they’re still learning how to stay calm and push through bad jumps or tough races. Keeping a strong mindset throughout the season is something we need to work on,” said Robinson.
Wednesday’s meet was also dazzled with impressive school records: the Girls 4×200-Meter Relay ran 1:46.37(a qualifying time for New Balance Nationals Indoor ), Marc Nelson ‘27’s high jump recorded 6’4.25”, and Bennett Rogers ’26 cleared 14’1” in the Pole Vault – a height that has stood for 57 years.
Regarding Wednesday’s meet, the storied rivalry between Andover and Exeter heightened the stakes to perform. Robinson emphasized that the added challenge of competing away and the rowdy crowd.
“This was the first and only away meet of the season for upperclassmen, so it took some getting used to. The 9th and 10th graders had a meet at Exeter two weeks ago, but it was still a challenge,” said Robinson.
With the season nearing the end, Andover now turns toward the USA Track & Field New England (USATF-NE) Indoor Championships. The competition will be held at Harvard University’s Gordon Track, which features a banked 200-Meter track. The meet will mark Robinson’s final high-school indoor track meet.
“For those of us competing at Harvard, it’s just one last chance to show everything we’ve got. The track there is really fast and bouncy, which helps a lot with longer events. We usually see a lot of PRs and school records broken at that meet,” said Robinson.
This weekend, select members of Indoor Track will partake in the USATF-NE Indoor Championship.
