On May 21, the Andover Track and Field team participated in the Small School State Championships in Belmont. The meet is attended by 20 teams from all over the state. Athletes have to meet qualifying times and be top performers to qualify for the meet.
As a team, the Andover Boys finished tied for 8th, with 29 points. The scoring was led by David Reynolds with 8 points, followed by Matt Reynolds and Teigan Friedrich with 5, Camden Donovan and Zack Cronin with 4, and Aiden Kellogg scoring 3 points in his first State meet.
The Andover Girls finished 16th, with scoring led by Sophia Reynolds scoring 5 points.
Top performances for Andover were Sophia Reynolds in the girls 800-meter and Teigan Friedrich in the 100-meter hurdles. Sophia ran a school record 2:50.5 for 800m, finishing 4th overall in a field of 26.
Teigan Friedrich tied the school record in the 100m hurdles, finishing 4th overall in a time of 16.8 seconds.
The Andover boys did most of their scoring in the 800m. Led by Matt Reynolds in 4th, David Reynolds in 5th, and Aiden Kellogg in 6th, the boys scored 12 of their 29 points. Matt Bent and Aiden Kellogg each ran their best times of the year.
In an extremely competitive 1600m, David Reynolds was 5th with a time of 5:18. The race featured five runners under 5:20, running in a tight group with constant lead changes and a wild sprint for the finish. Nelson Makechnie was 9th in 5:38.
Rounding out the States scoring, Camden Donovan and Zack Cronin finished tied for 3rd in the high jump, with both clearing 4′ 10″.
In the girls discus, Tori Braley matched her season’s best throw at 48′ 10″.
The State meet finished off a really strong season led by seven three-year veterans from the eighth grade: Teigan Friedrich, Cam Donovan, David Reynolds, Matt Reynolds, Nelson Makechnie, Hayden Buswell, and Britta Johnson. The team was 33 members strong with the addition of 15 fifth and sixth graders.
There were five regular-season meets followed by the Small School State Championships. The season started in late March with the team confined to workouts in the gym due to the abundance of snow. They worked hard and made the best of it, and when we got outside we really got great results. Throughout the season, team members supported each other and taught events to the younger athletes.
On the field event side Camden Donovan and Teigan Friedrich had great seasons. Camden tied the school record in the high jump, clearing 5’ 0”. He now shares the record with John Dukette and Tim McDaniel. In the javelin, Teigan Freidrich made great improvement, moving to 3rd all-time for Andover with a throw of 106’ 3”.
In other field events, eighth graders Camden Donovan and Hayden Buswell showed eager fifth and sixth graders the ropes in discus and shot put, helping everyone get to the events on time and throw well.
On the girls’ side, Madalyn Goodwin helped some young ladies learn and compete in the long jump.
In the running events, Andover fielded a strong team from the 100m hurdles all the way to the 1600m run. The sprint corps was led by Teigan Friedrich and Camden Donovan, bringing along first-time team member Zack Cronin in the 100m and 200m.
David Reynolds and Zach Shipley provided leadership for a group of 400-meter runners that spanned fifth to eighth grade, with everyone making solid improvements all year.
The 800m run is where the team’s strength really shone this year. On the boys’ side, the team was led by Matthew and David Reynolds. Matt and Dave traded the school record back and forth throughout the season, with Matt finally setting the record at 2:32.95.
New to the team this year were eighth graders Aiden Kellogg and Matt Bent, along with veteran 1600m runner Nelson Makechnie. All qualified for the State meet in the 800m and regularly scored five of the top seven spots in meets, creating a long blue line hard for other teams to break into.
In the 1600m run, David Reynolds and Nelson Makechnie finished their AE/MS careers with personal bests and school records this season. David lowered his school record from 5:32 all the way down to 5:16. Nelson improved his personal best down to 5:35.
On the girls’ side, the 800m was a place for our fifth graders to shine. The group of Brynne Makechnie, Sasha Mackenzie, Lily Menard, and Sophia Reynolds put our competition on notice. All the girls showed steady improvement, with Sophia finally going to States and setting the school record in the 800m.
In the relays, our boys 4x100m team improved their handoffs steadily all year and qualified for States. The team consists of Camden Donovan, Matt Bent, Aiden Kellogg, and Teigan Friedrich.
The boys 4×400 team of Matt Reynolds, David Reynolds, Aiden Kellogg, and Nelson Makechnie ran well, narrowly missing States.
The girls 4x400m was another bright spot courtesy of the fifth graders. Five girls ran the 4x400m at various times: Sophia Reynolds, Brynne Makechnie, Lily Menard, Alexis Plante, and Sasha Mackenzie. They were the only all-fifth-grade team we saw all year and broke through in the Fifth and Sixth Grade Only Meet at Gilford with their first victory.