RallyNorth.net

Andover shocks Methuen

Thursday, September, 30 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

METHUEN — All good things must come to an end, and the Andover boys cross country team proved that to Methuen yesterday.

With an excellent team effort, the Golden Warriors snapped Methuen's 26-meet winning streak, defeating the Rangers in a dual meet for the first time in 11 years. The score ended in a 28-28 tie, but Andover was awarded the win because sixth runner Tim Lyman finished in front of Methuen's sixth man.

Methuen, which has won seven of the last eight league titles, did graduate five of its top six runners, but no one was downplaying the upset.

"To come over here and beat them here is a big accomplishment," said Andover coach Leo Lafond. "The big difference this year is that our kids really prepared in the summer and were ready to go."

Andover senior Simon Voorhees came in first in 15:17 for 2.87 miles, comfortably ahead of Methuen veteran Cam Kelley (15:40) and Lucas Parsons (15:51), who finished 2-3. Warrior junior Ryan Cooney then took a pivotal fourth in 16:03, seven seconds ahead of Methuen sophomore Mike O'Donnell.

"I think everyone ran well, but we needed Ryan to beat their third man and maybe even their second guy and he almost did that," said Voorhees. "He's really running great."

Running on a muggy day with temperatures in the mid-80s, it wasn't easy.

"I didn't feel well today, but I fought through the pain," said Cooney. "My plan was to stay with Simon as long as I could, and then Lucas Parsons, and it worked out well."

Cooney had a solid year as a sophomore, but some thought he could have run a little better (84th in the Eastern Mass. Division 1 meet). However, under the circumstances, he had a fine season according to Lafond.

"Ryan had a bad blister problem on the bottom of his foot last year and that really affected him," said Lafond. "We had to hold him back, which hurt his conditioning. But he went to a specialist and doesn't have that problem now."

Andover junior Evan Gaj came in sixth while Charlie Schleifer and Andrew Newcomb finished eighth and ninth to complete Andover's scoring. Lyman, a tri-captain, came in 10th, as the team's sixth man, to clinch the victory.

The loss was disappointing to Methuen coach Bill James, but not exactly shocking.

"With the guys we lost from last year, I'm afraid of every race this year," said James. "I thought we could win today, but we didn't run quite as good as we're capable and we need to in order to be successful."