Four Andover Uppers dominated the pool in the 200 Medley Relay, breaking Choate’s pool record of 1:51.24 with a time of 1:48.97 last Saturday. This decisive first win by the powerhouse team of Tim Wynter ’14, Scott Simpson ’14, Captain Joe Faller ’14 and David Cao ’14 set the pace for the rest of the meet, and Andover Boys Swimming went on to sweep Choate 106-78.
“I was very impressed by how fast the guys went after just two weeks of preseason and not even half a week of training,” said Faller. “We’ve been training hard [compared to] the other teams [and] really getting back in sync.”
At Choate, Andover faced the challenge of pool that is 10 percent longer than the one in Borden Gym, at 25 meters instead of the traditional 25 yards. However, even after losing more than a third of its swimmers from last year, Andover showed no sign of weakness and placed first in eight of 11 events.
Andover blew Choate out of the water in the 200 Freestyle, the second event of the meet. First, second and third place went to Faller, Aaron Teo ’15 and Justin Wang ’13, respectively with times of 2:01.80, 2:07.47 and 2:07.87.
Shortly after, Simpson won his first individual event, the 200 IM, with a time of 2:19.52. Alex Li ’15 and Connor Fraser ’13 followed closely behind in third and fifth place.
Choate regained its footing in the 50 Freestyle as a swimmer edged out Heson Oh ’14 (second place, 25.32), Cao (fourth, 25.83) and Charles Van Eijk ’14 (fifth, 26.16).
In the diving event, Choate continued to push forward by locking up the first three places. Kade Call ’14 finished fourth with 122.05 points and rookie Thomas Bakken ’14 finished fifth with 101.50 points.
Wynter and Simpson then returned to the pool to crush the 100 Butterfly and finished in first and second places with 59.31 and 1:01.91 respectively. Upon Oh’s return in the 100 Freestyle, he claimed first place in an individual event for the second time in his Andover career with a strong time of 55.46.“It feels great to be part of a team that’s part of a dynasty,” said Oh.
“It feels good to be doing something for the team and adding points to the board.”
After a win by Wynter in the 100 Backstroke, Teo snagged first place in the 400 Freestyle with 4:23.43, closely followed by Andrew Yang ’14 with 4:24.59 in second.
“It’s my first meet here and [in] high school, so it’s a new experience for me,” said Teo. “The events are run really quickly, so you don’t have much rest, so you have to pace yourself and know how to swim the rest.
”This talent shown by newcomers only reinforces the team’s dreams of performing well at the new championship this year. With Easterns falling earlier in the season than the New England Championships, in which the team participated in last year, new members to the team must be integrated and achieve even more in a shorter amount of time. However, with standout performances from Teo and Simpson, the team remains optimistic.
“New swimmers are taking up most of the lanes in the pool, and it’s important for us to see how they do,” said Faller. “Our season is shortened; we need the new kids to replace all the fast kids that we’re losing, and we’re getting them, which is great.”
Andover continues to train for its first home meet against Loomis on Saturday.
