In a striking display of the depth of the Andover swim team, both of Andover’s relay teams in the 200-meter freestyle relay beat out Choate’s best relay team to earn the first 1-2 finish in the relay in years. After a long history of losing to Choate, Andover came out of their most recent meet on top with a score of 100-82. In past years, the scores of the Andover-Choate meets have been agonizingly close, with Andover losing by only a small margin in each meet. This year, Andover swimmers came to Choate ready to swim to win. Accustomed to practicing in a 25-yard pool, the Andover team was unfamiliar with Choate’s 25-meter pool. This meant that all the races were slightly longer and would require more endurance in the pool. The girls demonstrated their endurance in the first race of the day, the 200-medley relay. Although Choate narrowly won the relay, Andover placed second and third right behind them. The second-place relay team included Theresa Faller ’11 swimming the backstroke leg, Salena Casha ’09 swimming the breaststroke leg, Annie Glancy ’09 swimming the butterfly leg and Lexi Moroney ’11 swimming the freestyle. Following the medley relay was the 200-meter individual medley event. Once again, Choate won first place, but Annie Glancy ’09 claimed second place close behind. The 200-meter freestyle event came next, with swimmers Casha, Elizabeth Carollo ’11 and Molly Levene ’12 swimming to represent Andover. All three girls swam the slightly longer event very well. Peyton Morss ’10 locked in first place for the 50-meter freestyle, winning by a full second, a wide margin in such a short race. Close behind for Andover was Lexi Moroney, who placed third. Divers Kendall MacRae ’11 and Captain Emily Johnson ’10 dove impressively, finishing first and second, respectively. Diving helped Andover gain a two-point lead going into the second half. To start off the second half of the meet after the diving, Glancy, Greta Martin ’09 and Hannah McGrath ’11 all swam the 100-meter butterfly. Shortly after, Morss secured first place again, this time in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:03. Lexi Moroney, Juliana Reider ’10 and Alanna Waldman ’10 swam the event alongside her. Instead of swimming the usual 500 freestyle, the participants in the event swam 400 meters. Throughout the entire race Ali Hall ’10 led the way and touched first by more than a body length. Because relays are worth more points than the individual events, Coach Paul Murphy knew that in order to win the meet, the relay teams needed to be perfect. In the 200-meter freestyle relay, Andover’s A and B relay teams remained tied with Choate’s A relay for the entire race. When it came to the last leg, both Andover teams touched before Choate, ending with an incredible 1-2 finish. “I cannot remember the last time that we had a first and second finish in a relay,” said Coach Murphy enthusiastically. The two relays were only .41 seconds apart. The A relay consisted of Lexi Moroney, Waldman, Mai Kristofferson ’09, and Morss, while the B team included Faller ’11, Julia Torabi ’12, Reider and Emily Timm ’11. After the relay, Torabi, Casha and Hall swam the 100 breaststroke, followed by a close race in the 100-meter backstroke, where Faller touched second. The meet ended with the 400-meter freestyle relay, and although Andover’s relay team placed second, the entire team was both elated and relieved to finally gain a win over a deep and talented Choate team. After tallying up the scores, the girls knew that their hard work had paid off, allowing them to beat Choate for the first time in three years.
