Six students from Andover Middle School’s sixth grade qualified for the Small School Championship Meet on May 23 in Belmont. From the boys’ team, Jesse Niemeyer qualified for the long jump. The five girls pictured here — Maura Kelly, Sasha MacKenzie, Lily Menard, Brynne Makechnie, and Sophia Reynolds — qualified for 10 different track and field events among them.
The Andover Middle School track team wrapped up its regular season on May 11 and 12 with meets in Alton for seventh and eighth graders, and in Gilford for sixth graders. This year’s team was very young, with only five seventh and eighth graders on the team of 25.
The season kicked off on April 13 at Winnisquam. The team set the tone for the season with a strong start. They supported each other and did a great job getting to all of their events. Coaches observed many runners with huge smiles as they ran down the home stretch to thunderous cheering from their teammates.
The relay teams did a great job with their passes, and there were several Personal Bests and one School Record. Liam Donovan and Riley Keezer both set personal bests in the discus. Lily Menard led the running personal records with a 20-second improvement in the 800 meters. Sophia Reynolds improved her 800-meter time and the school record by five seconds to 2:44.9. Sasha Mackenzie improved her 800-meter time by a second. Maura Kelly and Cyrus King had strong debuts in several events, including the 800 meter and relays.
Eight days later, the team met at the Bow High School track with Bow, Hopkinton, Concord Christian, and Holderness. On the girls’ side, Brynne Makechnie started things off with an amazing first-ever attempt at the 100-meter hurdles. She was third, in a time of 19.8, becoming eligible for championships and running the second-fastest time ever at Andover behind Kristin Corliss, who ran 19.0.
In the 1600 meter, Sophia Reynolds came from behind and broke Cope Makechnie’s school record from 2013 by seven seconds, winning the race in 6:03. Sophia teamed up immediately with Brynne, Sasha Mackenzie, and Maura Kelly in the 4 x 100-meter relay, finishing in third and improving to 1:02.4. Sophia then finished her first-ever high jump competition by clearing 4′ 2″.
Next Brynne, Maura, Sasha, and Lily were up in the 800 meters. Without a doubt it was the most exciting race of the day. Brynne started strong, then settled back in second place about 15 meters behind entering the home straight. Brynne unleashed a fierce kick and snuck by the leader on the inside at the line for the win in a personal best 2:58. Maura was close behind in a personal best of 3:02. Brynne and Maura are both eligible for championships. Rounding out the personal bests: Sasha and Lily set personal bests for the second meet in a row.
In the long jump, Alexis and Morganne Budgett set personal bests as well to round out a great day for the girls’ team.
The boys got things started with Cyrus King running a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 22.6. In the 100 meters, the boys were led by Jeremy Johnson, Garrett Neimeyer, Adam Barry, and Aaron Weeks all running well. Garrett and Jeremy set personal best times.
The boys of the 4 x 100-meter relay also improved their time from Winnisquam with some good baton passing from Garrett, Dillan Reed, Jesse Niemeyer, and Will Furtkamp.
In the 800 meters, Cyrus showed his versatility and took 12 seconds off his personal best. Cyrus was joined by Adam Barry trying the 800 meter for the first time in a strong 3:27.
In the field events, Riley led the way in the discus, improving by four feet over Winnisquam. He was joined by Anthony Hammond, Fenn Davis, and Liam Donovan who all had strong throws.
In the javelin, Adam Barry and Wes Koziol led the way, throwing over 40 feet each, along with Liam and Anthony establishing standards for themselves in their first javelin competition.
In the shot put, Dillan Reed led the way for the team with a throw of 21′, closely followed by Riley Keezer at 19′ 11″ and Fenn Davis at 11′ 2″. In the long jump, Jesse Niemeyer had a personal best jump of 12′, as did Aaron Weeks with a new best of 7′ 3″.
The high jump for boys was fun to watch as Jeremy, Jesse, and Will competed for the first time. Jesse cleared the opening height of 4′ and Will cleared 4′ 4″.
During April vacation, Sophia was able to compete in a middle school 1600 meter at the Coe-Brown Black Bear High School invitational. She went up against a field of eight that contained both middle school cross country state champions and many of the girls in the top 10. It was Sophia’s best 1600 of the year, running 5:47 and finishing fourth.
After April vacation, the team went to Merrimack Valley for a special practice conducted by the MVHS track team. It was a great way to hit the ground running after a week off and especially helpful for our hurdlers and long jumpers.
The team returned to MV the following Wednesday for a meet with MV, Epsom, Kearsarge, and Hopkinton. The girls’ team got off to a fast start in the 100 meter with Sophia taking third. The highlight of the day on the girls’ side was the 4 x 100 meter. They ran a blazing race with smooth handoffs to win in a time of 1:01.8 to become eligible for our championship meet.
This same group of ladies took to the track for the 800 meter, all matching or improving personal bests. Sophia took second, Brynne sixth, followed by Maura and Sasha.
On the boys’ side, Cyrus started things off with a solid run in the 100-meter hurdles. Cyrus followed that up with a throw of 21′ 9″ in the shot put and a run of 2:58.8 in the 800 meter. In the discus, Dillan Reed had his best throw of the season at 66′ 9″. In the high jump, Will Furtkamp had a season’s best 4′ 4″.
The last week of the season is exciting for everyone. The team splits up, with the seventh and eighth graders going to Alton and the sixth graders going to a meet with only fifth and sixth graders in Gilford.
The seventh and eighth graders traveled to Alton hoping to get their best marks of the year and become eligible for our championship meet. The team focused on the field events, with Liam Donovan setting a personal best in the discus at 49′ 0″ and setting a team season’s best in the javelin at 49′ 3″. Riley Keezer jumped into third on the team in javelin with a throw of 45′ 3″.
In the shot put, Cyrus set season’s and team best with a throw of 25′ 9.5″. He was followed closely by Will with a throw of 24′ 1″. Will wrapped up the meet matching his season’s best in the high jump, clearing 4′ 4″ but just missing the eligibility mark for championships.
The next day the sixth graders went to Gilford for their last regular season meet. It’s a great day competing with other sixth graders instead of seventh and eighth graders.
There was a focus on the field events but also some new running events. Sophia ran 1:12 in the 400 meter and 31.2 in the 200 meter to be eligible for the championship. Sasha and Maura also ran their first 200 meter. Alexis Plante ran her best 100 meter of the year. In the long jump, Sophia and Morganne both had season’s bests.
It was a great season for the AMS track team. The athletes tried many events and were improving throughout the season, with most of the team members having their best performances in the last meet. There were two school records set and some other records being approached. Sophia improved her record in the 800 meter to 2:44.9 and set a new school record in the 1600 meter with a time of 5:47.8.
The final meet of the year was the championship at Belmont on May 23. It was a big goal for the team, since it requires athletes to achieve certain times to be eligible for the meet. This season the team had six athletes eligible for the championship meet.
Championship Meet
On May 23, the Andover Middle School track team finished its track season at the Small School Championship Meet. It’s a special meet that athletes have to qualify for with top marks during the season. Andover qualified five girls and one boy. One of the most impressive thing about the qualifiers was that they are all in sixth grade.
On the boys’ team, Jesse Niemeyer was eligible in the long jump. There were five girls eligible for the championship. Brynne Makechnie was eligible in the 100-meter hurdles, the 800 meter, the 4 x 100 meter, and the 4 x 400 meter. Maura Kelly was eligible in the 800 meter, the 4 x 100 meter, and the 4 x 400 meter.
Sophia Reynolds was eligible in the 100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter, 1600 meter, the 4 x 100 meter, the 4 x 400 meter, the high jump, and the long jump. Sasha MacKenzie was eligible in the 4 x 100 meter and the 4 x 400 meter, and Lily Menard was eligible in the 4 x 400 meter.