BOSTON — Andover sophomore Rachel Moore was sent a University of Texas swim cap before last year's state meet.
It was autographed by former Andover and Longhorns swimmer Connie Brown, the granddaughter of Golden Warriors swim coach Marilyn Fitzgerald.
Brown wrote on the cap "Good Luck," knowing Moore had a terrific chance of breaking her 100-yard butterfly state meet record time of 55.52 set by Brown on Nov. 22, 1999.
Moore, however, was unable to break Brown's record as a freshman.
"I talked to Connie last night and told her that her record was going down," Fitzgerald said.
The enthusiastic Andover coach was right.
Moore, one year older, was able to set the record with a time of 55.44 at the Division 1 state swim and dive championship at Harvard University yesterday.
"I came back this year and wanted it really bad," Moore said.
Moore also tied Brown's state-meet record in the 100-backstroke (55.80) to help Andover run away with the Division 1 state meet title with a team score of 321 points, far ahead of runner-up Chelmsford (214.5).
It was the Warriors' 10th title in the last 11 years.
The girls knew they had won it after the final event. They stood in a straight line near the podium with their arms interlocked around one another's shoulders as the public address announcer read the top-six team finishers.
And when it was official, Andover swimmers cheered boisterously, raised their arms in the air, waved blue and gold pom poms and then pushed Fitzgerald and two other Andover coaches into the pool.
"It was the best swim of the day," a completely soaking wet Fitzgerald joked. "Forget what the kids did — that was the best one."
Moore added: "It's tradition. We call kind of ran at her at once and she was kind of like 'Oh, I'm going to jump in the pool now.'"
Unfortunately for the joyful Fitzgerald, her new sneakers got drenched, too.
Fitzgerald had the sneakers custom-made for her last spring after her team had failed to win the title in 2008 after winning it nine straight years.
"I had never changed my sneakers in all those years of winning because I felt they were good-luck charms," Fitzgerald said about her old ones. "These (new ones), you see, have my initials on them. It says 'swim and dive' on them and it has the Andover Golden (Warrior) on the back. And they're obviously blue and gold. And they are now winning sneakers forever more."
When asked about the condition of her retired sneakers, which now rest in her closet at home, Fitzgerald replied: "Pretty awful."
Andover back to its winning ways.
All the girls on the team wore T-shirts to the state meet that the seniors designed.
The front of shirt has a police cruiser on it with its blue lights flashing and a front license plate that reads "2009." The back of the shirt has the rear end of the police car. The back license plate reads "#1" and written over the car was the phrase "Guess who's back?"
"It was kind of brazen but we took the chance on it," Fitzgerald said about the shirts.
The cruiser represents the police escort the swim team's bus was promised to receive through Andover if the team won the state title.
The underclassmen, including Moore, got the job done. The freshmen and sophomore Andover swimmers combined for 13 top-six individual finishes.
"The young talent is amazing," Fitzgerald said. "This freshman class I would equate with the freshman class that came in 1999. It is that amazing."
Andover won all three relays. Two of those relay teams included only freshmen and sophomores. The other relay included just one upperclassman.
Both Moore and freshman standout Maggie D'Innocenzo won two individual events each while also both being on the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.
"It's a huge honor," Moore said when asked about setting two records. "Connie Brown is a legend so it's incredible. I'm really happy about it."
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