It was a busy winter postseason for Big Blue. After another strong rivalry showing at Andover-Exeter to conclude the regular season, both of Andover's basketball and hockey teams earned postseason berths, and swimming and diving hosted the New England Prep Division 1 Championships.
Andover’s Pan Athletic Center served as the host site for the New England Prep Division 1 Championships this past weekend.
Boys' Swimming & Diving (pictured above) won its 10th straight New England Prep title, maintaining its place as the top program in the region. Incredibly, this marked their 15th championship since 2007. (Read Coach Fox's recap.)
After going undefeated in his four events (100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay, and 400 Free Relay), Lincoln Tomlinson ’27 was selected by the league’s coaches as the recipient of the Babcock Award. The honor recognizes the most outstanding swimmer in the boys’ competition.
Girls' Swimming & Diving (pictured below) also continued its legacy of strong postseason performances, earning second place. This year marks the fifth straight second-place finish for the program and the seventh time they’ve been runner-up since 2018 (they finished in third place in 2020).
Boys' Basketball (pictured above) entered the New England Prep Class A Tournament as the #2 seed, earning home court advantage through the semifinals. The squad defeated Suffield in the quarterfinals, 84-78, and then closed the door on Deerfield in the semifinals, 71-58. It was the second time in the past three seasons that the program had earned a spot in the New England title game. The squad travelled to Worcester Academy on Sunday to take on Hotchkiss in the championship. Unfortunately, despite trading leads with Hotchkiss for most of the contest, Andover could not match the impressive shooting accuracy of the opponent in the game's final third, and the Bearcats pulled away to a 66-54 win.
Girls' Basketball (pictured below) earned a 4th seed in the Class A tournament and hosted Milton Academy in the quarterfinals. Big Blue put together a strong performance to down the Mustangs, 60-52. Andover headed to #1-seeded, defending champion Loomis Chaffee for the semifinals. It was a tense, back-and-forth contest with the Pelicans, punctuated with tie scores at the end of each of the first three quarters. Trailing by two with ten seconds remaining, Andover had possession but was unable to convert, falling 40-42. The tournament appearance was the sixth straight for Andover.
Girls' Hockey (seniors pictured above) earned the second seed in the Elite Eight Tournament. The program has earned a spot in the top-flight New England Prep hockey tournament every year since the "Elite Eight" was inaugurated in 2020. Andover reached the finals last season and, after a stellar regular season, seemed poised to return to the title game. Behind an incredible goaltending performance and a stubborn defense, Tabor withstood a barrage of Big Blue shots to force overtime with the game tied 1-1. Tabor's goaltender continued her outstanding play, and the visiting Seawolves took advantage of a power play to end Andover's season.
Boys' Hockey, the defending Large School tournament champions, entered this year's Large School tourney as the #3 seed and hosted St. Paul's in the quarterfinals. Andover broke a 1-1 tie less than a minute into the third period and subsequently scored three goals in one minute and twenty-three seconds. Big Blue secured a 5-1 victory. In the semifinals, the squad travelled to #2 Cushing. The home team jumped out to an early three-goal lead and never looked back. The eventual champions ended Andover's run with a 5-1 result.
