Newtown High School Girls’ Track Team Earns South-West Conference Championship; Boys Finish Sixth

By Kim J. Harmon

MONROE – With one girl falling in the 4x800 relay and another failing to get off a clean leap in the long jump, the signs were not good for the Newtown High School girls’ track and field team at the South-West Conference championship on Monday.

Not good at all

“Honestly, after the way the meet started I was hoping to finish third or fourth and walk away with the division championship,” said head coach Marsha Turek, who guided the Lady Nighthawks to a 14-1 record this year and 27-2-1 record over the last two years but only a 10th-place finish at the 2003 SWC championship.

Not good. Not good at all.

What changed that tune, though, were the marvelous performances of Leah Herity (second in pole vault, fourth in 200 dash), Jacky Curran (third in triple jump), Jessica Cosgrove (third in discus with career-best toss), Carolyn Brennan (fourth in the 3,200 meters) and – of course – Alex Konneker (first in 100, 200 and 400 dash).

“These girls were pretty confident,” said coach Turek. “They came up so big. Leah had a great da, Jacky popped off a huge jump, and Jess made the best throw of her life.”

A lot of eyes were on sophomore Alex Konneker, a track and field newbie who played softball as a freshman. Her introduction into track has been dynamic, to say the least, as she was beaten only once all year in the 100 ash and not at all in the 200 or 400 dashes.

On Monday, X-Kon made a clean sweep in the 100, 200 and 400 and added a share of the 4x400 meter title.

“Its been fun,” said Konneker, who is still learning the nuances of running and starting off the blocks. “I expected to do decently this year – but I didn’t expect to win an SWC event or anything. I still think I have a lot of potential to improve.”

Those four first-place finishes were the only ones enjoyed by the ‘Hawks. Sadie Ball, Ciara Simek and Tara Gaston – all sophomores, like Konneker – did their part on the first three legs of the event and may have begun an epic run in South-West Conference track.

Herity’s performance in the pole vault (2nd) was the next-best finish for the ‘Hawks. Then came Curran’s third in the triple jump, Kate Stickles’ third in the 800 meters, and Cosgrove’s third in the discus. Herity (400) and Brennan (3,200) earned fourth-place finishes while Julie Landin (400) took a fifth-place finish. The 4x800 foursome of Stickles, Ball, Gaston and Caitlin Thursland was fourth as was the 4x100 foursome of Herity, Caitlin Weber, Landin and Simek.

The best news about all this – even better than his being coach Turek’s second track and field championship and fourth championship overall (if you add in back-to-back titles in cross country) at Newtown High – is that only five of the 84 points the ‘Hawks scored on Monday afternoon (four by Brennan and one by Weber) are graduating.

The future of NHS track was really highlighted at the SWC championship – as it was at the freshman-sophomore invitational hosted by Newtown High School last week.

Dana Taylor (first in shot, second in javelin and discus), Simek (first in long jump), Ball (first in 3,200), Michelle Brennan (second in 3,200), Whitney (second in 400) and Emelye Neff (third in 300 hurdles) had a chance to showcase their talents as well.

TEAM SCORES

 

1. Newtown 84, 2. Bethel 67, 3. Masuk 66, 4. Bunnell 59, 5. Brookfield 56, 6. Jonathan Law 41, 7. New Fairfield 38, 8. Pomperaug 33, 9 (tie). Weston, Joel Barlow and Foran 27; 12. New Milford 24, 13. Stratford 8, 14. Lauralton Hall 1.

 

Track Events

 

4x800 relay: 1. New Fairfield (Laura Simons, Karen Hillery, Brittany Potter, Alyssa Potter), 9:51.55; 2. Weston, 9:53.17; 3. Masuk, 10:09.26; 4x100 relay: 1. Bunnell (Taylor Alut, Eileen Condon, Chantal Forrester, Angela Turnier), 51.89; 2. Weston, 52.42; 3. Masuk, 52.73; 100 hurdles: 1. Kaitlyn Whitlock, Bethel, 15.39; 2. Amy Anekwe, Bunnell, 16.75; 3. Lauren Tanz, Brookfield, 16.91; 100 dash: 1. Alex Konneker, Newtown, 12.69; 2. Chantal Forrester, Bunnell, 12.79; 3. Lauren Rosado, Foran, 13.09; 1,600 meters: 1. Kara Fisher, New Milford, 5:24.43; 2. Alyssa Potter, New Fairfield, 5:26.38; 3. Rebecca McCollum, Masuk, 5:27.96; 400 meters: 1. Alex Konneker, Newtown, 1:00.40; 2. Erica Mansson, Masuk, 1:01.60; 3. Tai McCord, Jonathan Law, 1:03.07; 300 intermediate hurdles: 1. Kaitlyn Whitlock, Bethel, 44.45; 2. Catherine Nathans, 48.11; 3. Amy Gould, Joel Barlow, 49.28; 800 meters: 1. Robyn Hudak, Masuk, 2:29.78; 2. Lauren Trohalis, Bethel, 2:29.84; 3. Kate Stickles, Newtown, 2:31.82; 200 dash: 1. Alex Konneker, Newtown, 26.07; 2. Kaitlyn Whitlock, Bethel, 26.30; 3. Lauren Rosado, Foran, 27.60; 3,200 meters: 1. Rebecca McCollum, Masuk, 11:49.58; 2. Brittany Potter, New Fairfield, 11:55.15; 3. Deanna Rogers, Bunnell, 12:05.16; 4x400 relay: 1. Newtown (Tara Gaston, Ciara Simek, Sadie Ball, Alex Konneker), 4:11.46; 2. Weston, 4:15.10; 3. Masuk, 4:16.43.

 

Field Events

 

Javelin: 1. Emma Horrocks, Jonathan Law, 95-5; 2. Judy Allen, Brookfield, 91-8; 3. Anna Balouskus, Pomperaug, 88-11; Shot put: 1. Caitlin Bloszko, Jonathan Law, 33-21/2; 2. Heather Knapp, Pomperaug, 32-41/2; 3. Brooke Nichols, Joel Barlow, 31-71/2; Long jump: 1. Lauren Rosado, Foran, 16-61/2; 2. Sarah Soldano, Bethel, 15-113/4; 3. Chantal Forrester, Bunnell, 15-111/4; Triple jump: 1. Amy Anekwe, Bunnell, 33-111/4; 2. Sonia Martins, Masuk, 33-8; 3. Jackie Curran, Newtown, 32-91/2; Pole vault: 1. Dara Samuel, Brookfield, 10-0; 2. Leah Herity, Newtown, 8-0; 3. Alexa Owen, Joel Barlow, 8-0; High jump: 1. Sharon Golankiewicz, New Milford, 5-0; 2 (tie). Jessie Belden, Brookfield, Sarah Soldano, Bethel, 4-10; Discus: 1. Samantha Schueschner, Brookfield, 96-4; 2. Alexandra Brandt, Bethel, 93-9; 3. Jess Cosgrove, Newtown, 93-8.

 

Boys Finish Sixth

MILFORD – They may have sent their most qualifiers ever to the South-West Conference track and field championships on Tuesday, but the Newtown boys were up against some stiff competition and managed only a sixth-place finish.

New Milford rolled to the title with 101 points with Pomperaug a distant second with 82 points. Weston, Brookfield and Bethel came in ahead of the Nighthawks, who narrowly edged Jonathan Law, Bunnell and Masuk for that fifth-place finish.

Tim Carlisle earned a title in the 300 intermediate hurdles (and came just 7/100ths of a second away from a title in the 110 high hurdles) to lead the way for the ‘Hawks. Matt Miller (third in the pole vault) and Edmund Breitling (fifth in the javelin) claimed the only other individual top six finishes. The 4x800 (third) and 4x400 (fourth) relays also performed well.

TEAM SCORES

 

1. New Milford 101, 2. Pomperaug 82, 3. Weston 59, 4. Brookfield 45, 5. Bethel 37, 6. Newtown 35, 7. (tie) Jonathan Law, Bunnell 33, 9. (tie) Stratford, Masuk 32, 11. Joel Barlow 29, 12. Foran 28, 13. New Fairfield 10, 14. Notre Dame 1, 15. Immaculate 0.

 

Track Events

 

4x800 relay: 1. New Milford (David Hunt, Nick DeCrescenzo, Ben Danton, Reid McEwan) 8:17.35, 2. Weston 8:26.38, 3. Newtown 8:31.19, 4. Jonathan Law 8:42.62, 5. Foran 8:45.43, 6. Bunnell 8:53.59; 4x100 relay: 1. Pomperaug (Tim Keegan, Matt Cino, Max Kramer, Ken Fraser) 44.80, 2. Brookfield 45.08, 3. Weston 45.09, 4. Foran 45.11, 5. Masuk 46.09, 6. Jonathan Law 46.38; 110 high hurdles: 1. Max Kramer (Pomp) 15.77, 2. Tim Carlisle (Newt) 15.84, 3. Chris Brunau (JL) 16.82, 4. Ian Kershaw (West) 17.25, 5. Eric Svenson (JB) 17.33, 6. Nick Anetta (Pomp) 17.42; 100 dash: 1. Matt Clady (NM) 11.38, 2. Ian Sanford (Bunn) 11.49, 3. Cameron Griffin (Brook) 11.64, 4. Ken Fraser (Pomp) 11.68, 5. Al DiGiacomo (NM) 11.73, 6. Ben Schwartz (Foran) 11.88; 1600 meters: 1. Reid McEwan (NM) 4:24.86, 2. Brendan McNeish (Pomp) 4:26.74, 3. Nick DeCrescenzo (NM) 4:29.26, 4. David Hunt (NM) 4:38.29, 5. Ryan Lane (West) 4:39.15, 6. Mike DeCrescenzo (NM) 4:43.05; 400 meters: 1. Ian Sanford (Bunn) 51.38, 2. Sebby Mansson (Masuk) 51.57,  3. Brian Delanese (Foran) 51.85, 4. Bill McDermott (Beth) 52.63, 5. Bill Ryan (Masuk) 52.69, 6. Alec Gaffney (West) 52.70; 300 intermediate hurdles: 1. Tim Carlisle (Newt) 41.51, 2. Ian Kershaw (West) 41.73, 3. Max Kramer (Pomp) 41.75, 4. Nick Anderson (NM) 42.31, 5. Eric Svenson (JB) 42.34, 6. Shawn Krom (Foran) 42.83; 800 meters: 1. Matt Ottulich (NF) 2:00.31, 2. John Critelli (Pomp) 2:01.70, 3. John Loeser (West) 2:02.50, 4. Dan Liepins (Beth) 2:03.54, 5. Nick DeCrescenzo (NM) 2:04.11, 6. Reid McEwen (NM) 2:06.64; 200 dash: 1. Cameron Griffin (Brook) 23.05, 2. Matt Clady (NM) 23.22, 3. Sebby Mansson (Masuk) 23.84, 4. Andy Bellon (NM) 24.09, 5. Bill McDermott (Beth) 24.15, 6. Bill Moskalski (JB) 24.17; 3200 meters: 1. Ben Danton (NM) 9:39.59, 2. Brendan McNeish (Pomp) 9:46.24, 3. Ted Varga (Pomp) 10:01.29, 4. Brian Colonese (JB) 10:06.14, 5. Mike DeCrescenzo (NM) 10:07.44, 6. Pat Viklund (NM) 10:10; 4x400 relay: 1. Masuk (Frank Calabrese, Sebby Mansson, Sean Gavaghan, Bill Ryan) 3:34.03, 2. Weston 3:36.04, 3. Bethel 3:36.91, 4. Newtown 3:37.67, 5. Joel Barlow 3:38.22, 6. Jonathan Law 3:38.26.

 

Field Events

 

Javelin: 1. Peter Pietrini (JL) 156-2, 2. Kyle Hannon (JL) 155-0, 3. Nate  Boyarsky (Beth) 150-9, 4. Matt Cino (Pomp) 145-0, 5. Edmund Breitling (Newt) 140-6, 6. Jim Tierney (ND) 133-2; Long jump: 1. Stebenson Jean Baptiste (Strat) 21-1, 2. Tim Keegan (Pomp) 20-6, 3. Josh Susco (Brook) 20-4, 4. Al DiGiacomo (NM) 19-8, 5. Ken Fraser (Pomp) 18-11½, 6. Steven Papen (West) 18-8; High jump: 1. Ben Schwartz (Foran) 6-0, 2. Josh Susco (Brook) 5-10, 3. Tim Keegan (Pomp) 5-10, 4. Ryan Varga (Foran) 5-10, 5. Donald Peeler (Bunn) 5-8, 6. Justin Curtis (Beth) 5-8; Pole vault: 1. Shawn Surbey (JB) 12-6, 2. Chris Findley (Bunn) 11-0, 3. (tie) Matt Miller (Newt), Phil Cohen (West) 10-6, 5. James Murphy (West) 10-6, 6. (tie) Shane Matthews (Pomp), Ted Pert (Bunn), Jess Root (JL) 10-0; Discus: 1. Doug Pet (NM) 138-8, 2. Frank Dube (Beth) 131-2, 3. Mike White (Brook) 128-4, 4. Kyle Malloy (Bunn) 128-0, 5. Kyle Hannon (JL) 124-11, 6. Dave Lutian (JL) 121-1; Shot put: 1. Doug Pet (NM) 51-5¾, 2. Dimitri Blestas (JB) 46-10, 3. Brent Reed (Beth) 44-10¼, 4. Shad Jamison (Strat) 44-10, 5. Dudley Laporte (Stratford) 43-1, 6. Ryan Pacific (Brook) 42-9; Triple jump: 1. Stebenson Jean Baptiste (Strat) 40-0, 2. Steven Papen (West) 39-8¾, 3. Corey Gaddis (Strat) 39-4, 4. Matt McKinnon (Masuk) 38-11¼, 5. Al DiGiacomo (NM) 38-8, 6. Brian MacDonald (Pomp) 37-4½.