Girls’ XC Falls to Andover

In its penultimate race of the season, varsity girls’ cross country suffered a disappointing loss against Andover in a tight battle that ended 34-21.Heading into the race, Big Red understood the daunting task in front of them: not one varsity runner from Exeter was a senior, while five out of the seven from Andover were. Furthermore, Big Red was plagued with injuries.When Andover’s top three runners got off to a fast start, these obstructions became impossible to overcome. Nonetheless, the team ran the hardest it possibly could in an impressive display of persistence.One runner who stood out for her persistence was prep Hanna Pak. In the last 100 meters of the course, Pak, while running neck-and-neck with an Andover runner, “put forth full effort,” according to upper Yoshiko Lynch, and ended up outsprinting her competitor in a photo finish. She had won by less than one tenth of a second.

“Over the season, we’ve turned a lot of girls into really good runners.”

Prep Ashley Lin, in reference to her teammates’ performance, described the race as one that the team could not have run harder in. “Though we lost, we tried our very best and when you know that you couldn’t have done better, it is quite an accomplishing feeling,” Lin said.The dedication displayed by the runners was just a testament to how hard Exeter had worked all season, according to upper Sarah Brown. She explained that although the team lost to Andover, the training has paid off for the runners, especially the newcomers.For instance, Lin noted that the week before E/a, the team held a spontaneous one-mile time trial that “definitely helped us see where we were in terms of shape and get pumped for E/a.” However, Lin also wished that Exeter could have prepared for a course like Andover’s: one with several hills.Much of the success resulted from the return of two injured runners: lower Jo de La Bruyere and senior and captain Anna Barnes. De La Bruyere, who had missed most of the season recovering from a whooping cough, won the entire race. Barnes, who had returned after seven weeks of rehab, finished a close second.Looking forward, the entire team hopes to lock in on its next and final race: the interscholastics race in which it will meet Andover once again. Because, as Brown noted, it is more important than E/a, she hopes that the team will recover from its loss quickly and look to get revenge against Andover.Upper Meghan Chou described E/a as a usual marking point for next week’s race. “This race lets us know how we compare to Andover for interschols,” she said. “We still have a chance to beat them since they don’t run in packs and the difference between their first and last runner is pretty big.”Barnes believes that with the thorough training throughout the season and the addition of several returning runners to the varsity race, Exeter will have a better chance at chasing Andover for the interscholastics title.“Over the season, we’ve turned a lot of girls into really good runners,” she said. “We’re a little disappointed in the results, but we’re looking to the added runners of interschols next week to hopefully help close the gap between us and Andover.”