In the last running event of the meet, Michaela Jones ’18 crossed the finish line with a time of 4:24.25 minutes, securing another victory for Andover in the Girls 4×400-Meter relay. On Saturday, Girls Track & Field beat Deerfield and Taft in the season’s first trimeet at Deerfield. Andover placed first in 12 of the 17 total events and scored a total of 105 points, to Taft’s 45 and Deerfield’s 31.
“Both Deerfield and Taft are competitive schools in terms of Track and Field, so it was a really great chance to get good times and experience the kind of competition we’re going to run against later this season at Interschols, as well as next week at Deerfield again for the Hunt Relays,” said Sadie Cheston-Harris ’20.
Cheston-Harris gave a strong performance on Saturday, placing second in the 400-Meter with a season record of 1:03.87 and third in the 200-Meter with a personal record of 29.39 seconds. She was also part of the winning 4×400-Meter relay team, along with Tessa Conrardy ’20, Allison Zhu ’19 and Jones. Andover took both first and second place in the 4×400-Meter.
“For me, a highlight from the meet was cheering on the Girl’s 4×400-Meter Relay. The 4×400 is, like always, the last running event of the meet. I’m really proud of how the team did in the 4×400, especially since everyone is usually tired by the end of the meet and yet they still give their all to represent the school with Big Blue spirit. A lot of people don’t think that track is a team sport, but when everyone is cheering vigorously from the sidelines during that last relay, I can’t imagine us as anything but one big team,” said Rachel Chang ’20 who participated in the 200-Meter, 400-Meter, and Long Jump.
Andover also came in first in the Girl’s 4×100-Meter with a time of 51.91 seconds, despite a difficult start to the race, according to Maddy Silveira ’20.
“I ran in the 4×100 with Victoria Kadiri ’20, Sophia Slovenski ’18, and [Co-Captain] Fredericka Lucas ’18. Sophia and I had a really shaky handoff because we weren’t able to practice before the race, but we made up for it in the [third] and fourth legs and won by a good margin anyway. It made for a really exciting race though,” said Silvera, who also competed in the Long Jump and the 100-Meter Hurdles and came in fourth and third, respectively.
Lucas gave yet another strong performance on Saturday, placing first in the 200-Meter with a time of 27.26 seconds, the 400-Meter with a time of 1:02.78, and the high jump with a season record of 5 feet. Lucas also competed in the 4×100-Meter Relay.
Andover proved to be fierce competitors in the field events as well, placing first in all but one of the field events.
“I participated in the Javelin, Discus, and Triple Jump. As a team, we placed first, second, and third for the Discus and first, second, and fourth for the Javelin. Those were probably my highlights from the meet,” said Serena Liu ’19.
Despite the team’s immense success, Saturday’s unexpected weather conditions proved to be a challenge for Andover, according to Chang.
“Yesterday was supposed to be 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and it ended up in the 30s and 40s, with a chance of rain. Of course, that was kind of a bummer because we’d prepared for good weather, but I’m really proud of how we adjusted,” said Chang. “It was a long drive and the conditions weren’t great, but it was incredible to see everyone out on the track — throwing, running, jumping, vaulting — with the same spirit that you would see on our own turf. We were all excited to compete and to transfer our hard work from practice into a high intensity competition.”
Andover will return to Deerfield this Saturday to compete in the Annual Hunt Relays, a 15-school interscholastic meet featuring track and field relay events.
Editor’s Note: Tessa Conrardy ’20 is an Illustration Editor for The Phillipian. Allison Zhu ’19 is a Commentary Editor for The Phillipian.
