Securing the top three places in the 200-Yard Freestyle, Elizabeth Tran ’19, Grace Hitchcock ’20, and Samantha Turk ’20 finished with times of 2:04.32, 2:08.11, and 2:10.52 minutes, respectively. With eight event wins out of 11, Andover Girls Swimming & Diving defeated Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) by a score of 94-67.
In the opening event, the 200-Yard Medley Relay, Andover’s team of Co-Captain Gwyneth Wei ’17, Angelreana Choi ’19, Co-Captain Katherine Sweetser ’17, and Jackie Rossi ’20 claimed second place in a time of 1:59.99 minutes, just behind NMH’s A relay team.
Anna Lang ’19 won the following event, the 200-Yard Individual Medley, in a time of 2:20.74 minutes. Allyson Ty ’18 secured two victories in both the 50-Yard Freestyle and the 100-Yard Freestyle, giving Andover a substantial lead at the beginning of the meet.
Ty said, “Many of us swam events that we usually did not swim, and it was very exciting to see how well we did in those.”
Following the 50-Yard Freestyle, Tran won the 100-Yard Butterfly with a strong time of 1:00.76 minutes, six seconds ahead of NMH’s top swimmer.
In the 500-Yard Freestyle, Sweetser, Hitchcock, and Lucy Kisova ’20 secured the top three places, with times of 5:29.95, 5:39.40 and 5:49.36 minutes, respectively.
With its team of Rossi, Ty, Choi, and Tran, Andover claimed its first relay victory in the 200-Yard Freestyle relay, with a time of 1:45.96 minutes.
To cap off the team’s strong meet, Andover’s three teams secured the three top finishes in the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. The team of Ty, Rossi, Sweetser, and Tran finished in first with a time of 3:49.01 minutes.
Wei said, “We trained hard all throughout the week leading up to the NMH meet. [Head Coach Paul Murphy ’84] saw this week as an opportunity to really work on our endurance and fitness. The team felt confident entering the meet and left extremely happy with our results.”
Sweetser said, “Preparing for the meet, we had some tough practices and made sure to pay attention to details, like our turns.”
“This win is another step towards our main focus of the season: New England [Championships]. It has made the whole team especially motivated and eager to work harder,” said Wei.
After its strong performance against NMH, Andover turns its focus towards its meet against Deerfield Academy this upcoming Saturday. After last year’s victory against Deerfield, the team hopes to repeat its success this year.
To prepare for the coming weekend, the team will work on the skills in which it has the most room to improve on.
Sweester said, “We could improve on turns, underwaters and our starts. These are all little things that make a big difference in our races.”
Sarah Choi ’18 said, “We’ve practiced hard to prepare just for this meet. We have a great rivalry with Deerfield’s team, and this meet is something we look forward to the most every season.”
