Andover Girls and Boys Nordic captured fifth and sixth place, respectively, against Holderness, St Paul’s, Belmont Hill and Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) on Wednesday, January 23, despite a chilling temperature of -3 degrees. Differing from previous races, Wednesday’s events featured a sprint relay. Team members were assigned a partner and alternated skiing 1.2-kilometer loops. Each team completed a total of six laps. The team of Co-Captain Elana King-Nakaoka ’14 and Piper Curtis ’13 finished eighth with a time of 36:35. They were followed by the duo of Ziggy Chelsey ’13 and Anjali Krishnamachar ’13 in 14th place with a time of 42:23. Seconds after came Hallina Bletzer ’15 and Olivia LaMarche ’16 with a time of 42:41, which earned them a 16th place finish. In the boy’s race, the pair of Co-Captain Sean Burkitt ’14 and Aaron Finder ’13 finished in 13th place with a time of 31:37. Then at 34:54 came Will Bloxham ’13 and Greer Sallick ’14 with a 19th place finish. The third team of Daniel Lee ’14 and Wes Fabyan ’13 grabbed 26th place with a time of 39:25. “The team did fantastically, especially considering the frigid conditions,” said King-Nakaoka. “Conditions were hard because it was so cold. It was hard to stay warm in between our turns racing,” said Curtis. The weather, however, did not prevent the team from being competitive and having fun on the course. The race provided much appreciated and needed experience for some of the team’s new additions. “The beginners are getting more experience with every race, and we [are] gelling as a team,” Curtis said. However, there is always room to improve. “I think we can improve on our fitness and obviously practicing our technique,” said Curtis. “But that is harder because we don’t have snow at the moment.” Andover Nordic raced again on Wednesday, January 30, at Vermont Academy. Because results were not available before press time, coverage of the race on January 30 will be in next week’s issue.
