By Kim J. Harmon

BETHEL – Two points.

That’s all that separated the Newtown High School and Joel Barlow girls’ cross country teams last Thursday at the South-West Conference championships in Bethel and it was all the Lady Nighthawks needed to capture their second consecutive title.

How close was it? Well, if Leah Herity – the fifth Newtown finisher – runs just three seconds slower, this story would have an entirely different slant.

“This is really a testament to the depth on the team,” said co-captain Carolyn Brennan, who was fourth overall at 16:39. “Our team has really improved a lot over the last few weeks.”

The ‘Hawks finished the regular season at 14-1, with the one loss coming in the season-opening meet in September … to Joel Barlow. But in less than eight weeks, the ‘Hawks – who had three runners finish in the top 10, as opposed to last year when they had just one – made some great strides.

“We had a few first-year runners who hadn’t quite figured their place on the team yet,” said co-captain Caitlin Weber, who finished 28th overall at 18:12. “We knew it would be really close and we’re really happy. This is the best team score we’ve ever had.”

Kara Fisher of New Milford finished first at 16:04 and was followed in by Laura Simons of New Fairfield at 16:14 and Robyn Hudak of Masuk 16:33.

Then Brennan, who hardly wavered from her position for the entire race, started the ‘Hawks off with four points. Sadie Ball, a newcomer to cross country who had established herself early as the No. 2, finished fifth at 16:50.

Julie Gliesing was the first Joel Barlow runner to cross the finish line, coming in seventh at 16:56. But Laura Reid of Newtown was not far behind, coming in eighth at 17:09. The Lady Falcons then saw two of their own – Laurette Hamill and Calla MacNamara – cross the line within three seconds of each other.

At that point, with each team having three runners in, Newtown had 17 points and Joel Barlow had 26.

After Morgan England (14th) and Amanda Langlois (16th) rounded out the Lady Falcons’ scoring, the Lady Nighthawks put the finishing touches on their second championship as Caitlin Thursland came in 18th at 17:39 and Leah Herity came in 19th at 17:42.

Moira Collier had a fine race, too, coming in 26th at 17:58 (although out of the scoring).

“The girls put it together for the first time last week at Wickham,” said coach Marsha Turek, who has guided the ‘Hawks to a 19-3 record the last two seasons. “I knew (our loss to Barlow) wasn’t as bad as it looked and all we had to do was come up with a different strategy that would work.”

The strategy – in simple terms: stay together, find the yellow jerseys and then pass them out – worked like a charm.