Sports

Wynter Earns Three All-American Titles

Andover Boys Swimming capped off its fourth consecutive undefeated regular season to unexpectedly come away with a fourth place finish out of 27 schools at the prestigious Eastern Championships. Facing new competition from internationally recognized swimming schools such as the Peddie School, Malvern Prep and Germantown, the team rose to the challenge and had nine season-best performances, 44 personal-best performances, five All-American titles and one school record. “Easterns was certainly an eye opener to the swim team as it was the first time that the team attended a meet of such a high quality,” said Aaron Teo ’15. “I felt extremely proud of our performance at Easterns as every single team member did their very best and gave 110% in every race they raced.” Despite four New England Championship titles and three runner-up finishes in the past seven years, Andover decided to forgo its defense of the championship for the first time in 40 years in favor of Easterns. At New Englands, only three swimmers per team per event are allowed, severely limiting the participants. Easterns, however, allowed unlimited entries per team per event, opening up the opportunity for more swimmers to compete. The 18 fastest swimmers in each preliminary race to move on to the finals. The highlight of the championship and a direct result of the switch was when Connor Fraser ‘13 jumped from 37th to 18th in the 200 Freestyle and his time drop of 20 seconds in the 500 Freestyle. Unable to compete at New Englands last year, Fraser took full advantage of his last chance to race for Andover. In the preliminaries for the 200 Freestyle on Friday, he shaved five seconds off his personal best of 1:51.52 to become the 21st fastest performer in school history and qualify for the finals. Fraser then entered the 500 Freestyle with a personal best of 5:09, and delivered a 4:49.87 race for 15th place and a record as the 10th fastest performer in school history. “Stretching behind the blocks before my races at [preliminaries], I was aware that I was seeded outside of the group expected to make finals, but I also knew exactly what time I needed to break into the top 18. That goal certainly pushed me to swim fast in the races,” Fraser said. “I knew that these races were my last for Andover, and I wanted to know afterwards that all the training and racing I have done over four years had paid off,” Fraser continued. “I worked my way through two years on the JV swim team before getting to Varsity, and the work ethic then that I learned has carried over to my training in the past two years. I really just wanted to be satisfied with how I represented myself and my team, and, reflecting on my last championship meet, I am.” Captain Joe Faller ’14 ultimately took fourth in the 200 Freestyle with a personal best of 1:42.49 to become the third fastest performer of the event in school history. Tim Wynter ’14, Teo, Faller and Scott Simpson ’14 placed second in the 200 Medley that named them All-American with the 2nd fastest performance in school history. Not to be outdone, Wynter claimed the title of All-American in his two individual events, the 100 Backstroke and the 100 Butterfly. His 49.75 time in the 100 Backstroke was the second fastest time in school history, and his 49.74 time in the 100 Butterfly took second place and set a new school record. Following the 100 Butterfly, Andover scored extra points with personal best performances in the 200 Freestyle Relay from Andrew Xuan ’13, David Cao ’14, Darren Ty ’16 and Travis Bouscaren ’14 for eighth place. “The atmosphere of the meet itself motivated everyone to do well,” said Bouscaren. “So many fast times were being posted, which encouraged everyone to step up and post a fast time of their own.” Bouscaren sped through the 500 Freestyle alongside Fraser for a 12th place finish, and shortly after Teo, took sixth place with a time of 59.19 in the 100 Breaststroke. The championship ended on a high note with Faller, Simpson, Bouscaren and Wynter all delivering personal best splits to take third place in the 400 Freestyle Relay and claim All-American status with a time of 3:07.74, the second fastest performance in school history. “The reason that we’ve been undefeated and the reason we did so well at the championship is because everybody on the team, every single guy, they’re there because they want to be on the team, and they want to work hard,” said Faller. “It’s really just how much all the guys want to win, want to go faster, and that’s what’s been keeping our team going.” Even out of its comfort zone, Andover, with its talent, skill and hard work throughout the season, managed to perform well at a highly competitive meet. “We’ll definitely stick with [Easterns],” said Faller. “Everyone got the chance to show off what they’ve been working hard for all season, and that’s definitely where we need to be.”