Despite nursing a minor injury last week, Addison Godine ’07 blazed past the finish line to win the 800-meter race with a phenomenal time of 1:59.9 to help Andover beat Milton on Saturday at the Boys Track meet. Breaking the two-minute barrier in the 800 is an amazing feat accomplished by only the most dedicated and experienced runners, and now Godine can only be excited to run even faster. The meet was a tri-meet, and although Andover was able to hold off Milton, it was unable to defeat Northfield Mount Hermon, a powerful opponent. The meet ended with final scores of Andover with 63, NMH with 91 and Milton with 26. Helal Syed ’07 placed second in the 100-meters and 200-meters. However, Syed is confident in his ability to beat the NMH opponents at Interschols, saying “Though we didn’t beat NMH, when Interschols comes around we will definitely beat them… I would have liked to win, but I was focusing more on my form.” Alex McHale ’09 also placed second in the 100-meters, tying with Syed. The finishes of the 200-meters were very close, with all competitors coming in with similar times. Andover runners Syed and Teddy Louis ’09 finished second and fourth, respectively. In the 400-meters Chase Potter ’09 placed second, and Lou Tejada, coming back from injury, placed fourth. Eli Howe ’09 won both the 1500-meters and the 3000-meters. The 1500 started out as a slow race for all competitors, but with about a lap and a half to go NMH’s number one runner started an impressive sprint. Although the NMH runner was able to hold this pace for the remainder of the race, it was not enough to cast Howe from the number one position. Alex Hugon ’07 placed third in the 1500 behind NMH’s number one runner. “With Andover getting first and third place finishes, both under 4:25, I felt it was an altogether well-executed race,” said Hugon, regarding the 1500. Alex Clifford ’07 placed third in the 300-meter hurdles and also contributed on the winning 4×400 team, along with Potter, Peter McCarthy ’07 and Godine. Clifford took off during his leg, creating a gap between the NMH opponents and the remaining two were able to hold the lead for the rest of the race. The 4×100 team consisting of Syed, Frank Pinto ’08, Potter and McCarthy placed second. “If the handoffs were done smoother, we would have won. But it was one of the better 4×1 races we have had in the term,” said Syed ’07. Clifford and Corbin Tognoni ’08 snagged second and third in the high jump, respectively. With Jae Kim ’07 out with an injury, Frank Pinto ’07 was the top jumper for Andover with a distance of 37’7” in the triple jump for fourth place. Although he didn’t achieve a personal record, McCarthy continued his winning streak in the pole vault. Abishek Sripad ’07 grabbed second place in the pole vault behind McCarthy. Casey Shannon ’07 placed second in the shot put, and Martin Serna ’07 snatched fourth place. Joseph O’Hern ’07 threw a second place in the discus, and Tyler Bond ’10 achieved a personal best in the javelin to take fourth. Anthony Ambrosi ’07 did not throw the javelin this week, though he could have easily defeated any opponent from NMH or Milton. Captain Ben Bramhall ’07 looks at this loss against NMH positively, taking it as a learning experience. “We saw that NMH was good and so they, along with Exeter, will be our main competition [at Interschols]. Hotchkiss could pose a threat, too, perhaps; we aren’t sure. “Lots of people are still injured so once they are back up we should be in much better shape,” he said. Andover looks forward to its meet at Loomis next weekend, hoping to improve and come out victorious.
