Powered by Eli Howe’s ‘09 commanding first place victory, the Andover Boys Cross Country team captured a decisive 20-40 victory over Northfield Mt. Hermon on Saturday. In Defeating N.M.H., Andover successfully rebounded from its bitter loss to St. Paul’s in the previous week. Without top runners Charlie Ganner ’10 and Mike Discenza ’09, Andover placed eight runners in the top ten spots of the race. Captain Hanson Causbie ’08 praised this impressive feat, saying, “Our teams consistency and depth has been crucial all season long, and was the deciding factor in this race.” Despite racing without a complete squad, Andover entered the race with confidence, since they had fared well against NMH in the both the Andover Developmental Meet and the Canterbury Invitational. The race started out quickly, as NMH attempted to seize an early lead on the Great Lawn. Howe, Andover’s lead runner, kept a good pace at the beginning and wisely held back behind the NMH pack until the sanctuary gates. Howe soon caught up with the two top NMH runners in the sanctuary and established a lead that he would hold until the finish. Aside from its top two runners, the NMH competitors could not match the pace set by the top seven of Andover. Nate Thomas ‘08 and Tim McLaughlin ‘11 increased their pace and moved closer to Howe and the top NMH runners. Thomas and McLaughlin passed one of the NMH runners on the home stretch and clinched the victory for Andover. Howe finished first overall with an impressive time of 16:59, followed by NMH’s number one runner, who ran a 17:17. Thomas and McLaughlin finished third and fourth with respective times of 17:21 and 17:32. Andover then placed four straight runners after a fifth place finish from NMH. Phil Hofer ‘10 (17:37), Declan Cummings ‘09 (17:48), Jim Ricker ‘09 (17:52), and Michaeljit Sandhu ‘09 (18:02) rounded out Andover’s top seven. Andover’s JV cross-country team also had a very impressive race, dominating NMH and recording a perfect score of 15-50. Andover took the first thirteen spots and twenty-three of the top twenty-five. Leading the way was Ben Ho ’11, who continues to make great improvements from week to week. Ho finished with a time of 18:15, followed by Alex Cope ’09 with an 18:16. Coach Jon Stableford was particularly impressed with his team’s performance after the week of intense training. “This was a fine day of running by a young, developing team, and everyone remarked how easy the hills felt after several weeks of hill training. We have one more week of hill work before concentrating on flat speed as we head toward our showdown with Exeter and Interschols, ” commented Stableford. Next Saturday, Andover looks to build off its solid performance against N.M.H., when the team travels to Deerfield.
