Eli Howe ’09 sprinted across the finish line, winning the 1500 meter event in the Boys Track scrimmage against Reading last Saturday. A Reading racer started out in front with Howe trailing him for the first two laps, but in the third lap Howe started to make a move and pull ahead. The Reading runner tried to keep up with him, but Howe continued to keep the lead and was able to put more space between them to win the race with a time of 4:29. Neither team kept score in this early season scrimmage. The low-pressure circumstances gave runners a chance to run events that they normally would not without the stress to win and run personal-best times. In the 800 meter event, Addison Godine ’07 won with a time of 2:05. Chad Hollis ’08, normally a sprinter, ran the 800 meters and succeeded beyond his expectations, crossing the line in an impressive 2:13. In the field events, Anthony Ambrosi ’07 threw the javelin with force and solid technique. Frank Pinto ’08, a third-year member of the team, saw success in the long jump. Hollis also participated in the event, winning the event with ease. At the end of the meet, Godine ran the anchor for the 4×400 team and was able to pull ahead of Reading to win the race, with a personal split time of 52.0. “We saw a lot of really nice times and performances,” said Coach Corbin Lang about the meet. “A lot of new kids did really well.” Unfortunately, the team has suffered some early season injuries. In his first outdoor race of the year, Lou Tejada ’08 pulled a hamstring. Captain Ben Bramhall ’07was also unable to race because of a stress fracture in his foot. Despite these setbacks, the team hopes to bounce back quickly. Mike Discenza ’09, coming back from injury, placed second in the 3000 meter event with a time of 10:03. Discenza said, “I think we have a lot of work to do. We’re missing some PG power, losing Zoom [Merzudin Ibric ’06], our top scorer from last year who was a PG. Distance seems like it has the makings of a strong Interchols team and I hope that both Ben and I can come back and start on a normal training regime and be healthy to run at interschols.” Andover will face Wilbraham in its first real season meet.
