Sunday, November 29, 2009

NETT women defend title at Andover, men 3rd


The NETT Mini Ponyettes bravely defended their team title at the Andover Country Club XC Race today, while the men's team could only muster up a third-place team finish in a competitive field.

The ladies got the job done with an extremely low score of 13 in the race, outpacing five other women's teams. Kristen Hall led the charge in 23:11 over the 3.5(ish) mile course, finishing second in the female masters divison. From master to youth, it was Katherine De Zutter scoring next for the NETT women's team in 25:13, second in her age group. She was followed by Tina Wang (25:56), Karyn Miller-Medzon (26:53) and Chrissy Durden who somehow got shuffled into the men's category.

But not that the men were complaining about having Chrissy on their squad, as they could use all the help they could get. With the Central Mass Striders nabbing 2-3-4-5 in a heated men's race with CRC, it was tough sledding for NETT, who put their best foot forward for a third-place team finish. It came down to the Andover stalwarts for NETT, Paul Miller, Crazy Dave, Dave Mingori, Frank KJ and Toledo Joe the scoring five with Jim De Zutter toughing it out to be our fallback member. These are familiar names for NETT at Andover, as Paul, Dave and Joe were scoring members in the first-ever NETT race at Andover back in 2002, and Dave M and Frank KJ have certainly been regulars in recent years.

(The men's plaque is small, but the ladies assured us size doesn't really matter.)



Despite some construction (what else is new, right?), the slightly altered Andover course lived up to its reputation for rolling hills and the post-race celebration remains the best around. Did I mention the free beer? Didn't take Andy long to catch on!

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