PA Cyclists Capture League Championships

In their final league race of the spring season, the Andover Varsity Cycling team clinched three league championships on Wednesday, May 13 at Newfound Lake in Bristol, NH. The New England Road Cycling (NERC) league championship race was hosted by the New Hampton School, and the Andover riders had a banner day, bringing home four trophies in all.  The PA boys clinched first place overall in the Varsity A division, while the girls captured not only the Varsity A division but the Varsity B division, as well.  Captain Hilary Rich not only led her team to victory but also captured the hardware as best overall individual girls varsity rider in the league. 

The Andover team this year was modest in number but very talented. Senior Michael Discenza, who raced well all season, teamed with Austen Novis ’11 and Scott Fleming ’10 to form the boys varsity.  Girls varsity was anchored by Rich, and her power was nicely backed by fellow seniors Eliza Nguyen and Abby Levene who both raced very well all season.  Despite being only two riders in a huge field, seniors Vivian Wehner and Louise Chafee managed to win their Girls Varsity B division with relative ease.

 These eight riders, trained and prepared by coaches Thayer Zaeder and Derek Williams, were able to be successful against much deeper teams in races that are typically scored three deep, leaving little or no room for error or misstep.  Despite those thin margins, Andover riders rode a complete and stellar season and deserved to be smiling as they showed off their trophies in the accompanying end-of-season photograph.