WESTPORT – On the face of it, a fifth-place finish for the boys and a seventh-place finish for the girls at the South-West Conference championships might not seem like much, but the Newtown High School indoor track and field team couldn’t be happier.

It is all about improvement.

What makes the boys’ performance remarkable is that they just about equaled (same placement, one fewer point) their performance from the 2002-03 season without Peter Terrance, who set a conference record in the 600 meters and helped the team score a bundle of points.

And what makes the girls’ performance remarkable is that they tripled their point total from 2002-03 … going from a mere 13 points to 36 points.

“It was much more of an all-around team effort this year,” said head coach Dave Foss.

Leah Herity and Tim Carlisle earned a spot on the SWC All-Conference Second Team, as did the 4x800 relay team of Matt Cole, Scott Nichols, Alister Ratcliff and Jon Larsen. Quincey Blanchard and John Kostecki earned Honorable Mention.

For the girls –

The meet started well as the 4x800 relay team of Caitlin Thursland, Lindsay Weber, Katie Fullman, and Sadie Ball raced their way to a fourth-place finish in 11:03. Then as Weber earned her way into the semi-finals of the 50-meter hurdles and Leah Herity blazed through to the finals by winning both her heats, Quincey Blanchard went 14-8 in the long jump to place third.

Sadie Ball and Thursland ran strong times in the 1000 meters – 3:30 and 3:31, respectively – with Ball finishing sixth. At the same time, Teresa Taylor tossed the shot put farther than she ever has at 24-5.

Frosh Julie Landin gutted out a sixth-place finish in the 600 with a time of 1:55.4. Then, moments after clearing 7-6 to place second and earn Second Team All-SWC in the pole vault, Herity finished third in the 50-meter dash by only tenths of a second.

Carolyn Brennan, Thursland, and freshman Moira Collier then paced through the mile in 6:07, 6:13, and 6:09 respectively with Collier’s time being a personal best. The sprint medley relay team of Landin, Jenna VanWaalwijk, Becky Huot, and Ball stepped on the track and fought to a fifth-place finish in a time of 4:55.8.

Meanwhile at the high jump pit, Blanchard continued her strong field day by clearing 4-6 to earn fifth place.

Back on the track for the 300 meter dash, Emelye Neff raced to a personal best 49.8 but finished out of the points column as did Brennan in the 3,200 meters despite a personal best time of 13:01. Last came the final relays and Landin, the Weber sisters, and Blanchard blazed their way to a year’s best time of 4:38 in the 4x400, good enough to place fourth overall. To round out the team points, Whitney Allison, VanWaalwijk, Huot, and Herity closed out a spectacular day by chopping six seconds off their 4x240 relay time to place fifth in 2:32.7.

For the boys –

The 4x800 relay team of Alister Ratcliff, Scott Nichols, Matt Cole, and Jon Larsen surprised many by running to a second place finish in a time of 9:39, earning them a Second Team All-SWC spot. As John Kostecki earned bonus points in the high jump by leaping to a third-place finish with a leap of 5-2, he and Tim Carlisle earned spots in the 50-meter hurdle finals.

Ratcliff continued his strong day by out-kicking two opposing runners to the line in the 1,000 meters to place fifth in a time of 3:04. Larsen tried his come-from-behind approach in the 600 meters, finishing in 1:37, but it was not enough for points.

Carlisle and Kostecki then lined up for the hurdle finals. Carlisle blazed through in 7.7, but was just edged out for first (a second-place finish, though, earned his a Second Team All-SWC spot). Kostecki struggled, but finished for sixth.

Frosh Scott Nichols ran a smart mile, coming from behind to place fifth in 5:12 as fellow frosh Ryan Clark heaved the shot 29-4.5.

The medley team then ran a strong 4:23 with the foursome of Carlisle, Dan Gindraux, Liam Cawley, and Cole combining to place fifth overall. Gindraux then came back on only a few minutes rest to set a season team best of 41.7 in the 300 meters.

To round out the individual events, Ratcliff capped off a strong night by placing sixth in the 3,200 meters with a personal best of 11:15.

The relays closed out the evening, with the 4x400 team of Eric MacKnight, Cole, Nichols, and Larsen winning their heat behind Larsen’ great kick to place fifth and then the 4x240 team of Cawley, Dan Tichon, Gindraux, and Carlisle had to sweat out two heats after blazing through in 2:10.9 to find out that they had earned a fourth-place finish.

The CIAC Class L state championships will be held Saturday, February 14, at Hillhouse High School. Start time is 10 am.

sports@thebee.com