Newtown High School had an individual champion and a relay winner as the team placed fourth in the Class LL state championships, at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven on February 11. There were 17 teams to place. Newtown scored 54 points; Glastonbury was first with 91.50, followed by Danbury with 63 and Fairfield Ludlowe with 62.

Shayna Millard won the shot-put competition with a throw of 30-11; teammate Kaelin Rising was sixth with a 29-06.25. Becky Osborne — head coach of the boys and who is a former NHS standout thrower — guided the girls’ and boys’ shot-put competitors. Millard only started throwing a couple of years ago, and emerged quickly even despite her into to the event being impacted by the coronavirus with abbreviated seasons.

“They have been working very hard this season. I’m glad they are seeing some payoff,” Osborne said. “I’m super proud of them.”

The Nighthawks had tremendous relay race success, led by the 4x400 team of Elise Barricelli, Ally McCarthy, Riley Powers — all of whom shook of injuries this winter — and Hannah Snayd won in 4:13.92.

Newtown’s 4x800 set the school record for the third time this winter. Each time, the relay has been made up of a different mix of runners. Powers, McCarthy, Sophia Guevara, and Snayd reset the mark with a time of 9:45.27, good for second in the state championships. Becky Bourret, head coach of the girls, noted the the record coming into this season was 10:05.

Newtown’s sprint medley relay team of Barricelli, Amelia Daly, Guevara, and McCarthy was fourth in 4:30.35.

The 4x200 team of Rachael Albrecht, Ella Hall, Daly, and Barricelli was eighth in 1:51.72.

“It was fantastic. Every single one of our relays (set personal records) so that was a big thing,” Bourret said.

The coach used her top relays in states after a little mixing and matching in the South-West Conference meet, since Newtown had some relay depth and advantages over the competition in the SWC meet, which it won, and looked to get as many State Open qualifiers as possible out of the Class LL meet.

It was a battle between teammates in the 600 meter run as Powers and Snayd — both of whom also play together on the school soccer team — went head to head (or side by side). Powers edged out Snayd as they recorded times of 1:40.96 and 1:41.05. More importantly, for the team, they finished second and third. Although Greenwich’s Esme Daplyn won the event, Newtown scored more points in the heat thanks to the efforts of the two Nighthawks.

“They were racing each other. It was really interesting to watch them be competitors and be supporters of each other and train together, Bourret said.

Jaime Adams placed third in the 55 hurdles with a time of 9.59 seconds.

Check the February 18 print edition of The Bee for even more coverage of and results from the state competition.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.