Records Fall at 2020 Opener
The Andover boys’ track and field team racked up 74 points to cruise to a large victory over North Reading (36) and Tewksbury Memorial (27). In addition to winning 8 out of 9 track events, the Big Blue saw a new school record, a new facility record, and three new class records set on the afternoon.
Beginning with the mile, Christopher Ratcliffe (’20) combined with Alexander Fung (’21), Harrison Wilson (’20), and Isaac Heitmann (’22) to lead a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the event, posting times of 4:32.20, 4:46.52, 4:54.14, and 5:16.57, respectively. Patrick Alston (’21) would follow suit with a win and a new upper class record in the 55m Hurdles (8.44), followed by Joshua Park (’22) in 8.58 seconds, who took second.
The headline run of the afternoon, however, came from captain Alex Fleury (’20), whose time of 1:21.49 in the 600m (currently ranked #5 in the nation according to the Athletic.net database) shattered both the school and facility records. Fung would claim second place in a strong run of his own, posting a time of 1:30.02.
The Big Blue would post victories in each of the remaining track events, beginning with Glen Cahilly (’23) win in the 2 mile with a time of 10:43.72, followed by Benjamin Fu (’21) in fourth. Alexander Schimmel (’22) would then team up with Alex Oder (’21) to lead a 1-2 finish in the 300m with both athletes establishing new class records with times of 37.96 and 38.87, respectively. Ayana Alemayehu (’21) would chip in with a fourth place finish of his of own in 40.06 seconds. In the final individual event, Ellerman Mateo (’21) ran 2:50.79 to win the 1000m, followed by Alexander Meyer (’20) in second (2:53.92) and Jack Wilcox (’22) in fourth (3:02.76).
In addition to the success in individual events, Andover also captured both relay events. In the 4x200m, Zachary Moynihan (’21), Oder, Alston, and Schimmel combined for a time of 1:37.86, while Schimmel, Wilson, Meyer, and Fleury posted a time of 3:46.00 to win the 4x400m.
Ugo U’Gonuwe (’20) delivered the Big Blue’s lone victory in the field events, taking the Shot Put with a huge personal best of 44-11.50, with teammate Holt Bitler (’21) taking fourth with a throw of 40-01.50. Other scorers in the field included Abhinav Tadikonda (’20) and Alexander Shieh (’23), who finished second and fourth in the Pole Vault with marks of 10-06.00 and 8-00.00, respectively, and Safwat Omar (’23) and Alexander Mitchell (’22), who took third (5-00.0) and fourth (4-10.00) in the High Jump.
The Big Blue return to action this Sunday at Harvard, where they will compete in the GBTC Invitational.