The defending South-West Conference Champion Newtown High School boys’ track and field team is building for the future while looking to improve along the way and find some success, including at the South-West Conference Championship, this spring. The team lost significant points to graduation but still has a solid group of returning runners and field event participants back at it.

“Improvement has been our main message. We went from 22 signed up indoors to 58 this outdoor season. We are retaining a lot of new young athletes that will score us points for many years to come,” NHS Coach Charlie Taubl said. “Consistency is key to improving.”

A strength for the Nighthawks is their upperclassmen experience. “They have seen just about everything in the past couple of years, and have learned from their mistakes,” Taubl said. “We have a lot of talented underclassmen. I would love to see them fight for points at SWC Championships.”

Soheib Dissa will strive to continue his excellence on the track in distance events. Aydyn Gonzalez looks to have a bounce-back season after the winter indoor season in the 100 and 200 meter dash events. Hayden Bobowick is expanding his horizons by aiming for success in the decathlon. Dominic Simpri will go for the SWC title in high jump; he has been jumping over 6 feet consistently in preseason, which is a great indicator of future success, Taubl noted. Noah Masotta looks to break 4:30 in the mile and compete in the State Opens. Cole Wanzer and Chris Mattera look to lead the team in throws and score many points the team did not have during the indoor slate.

Captains are Gonzalez, Dissa, Masotta, Bobowick, and Zach Clouden (throwing events; shot-put, discus, and javelin).

No meet will be easy and while points were lost to graduation, Taubl said his team has a chance to repeat. “All the teams are tough. We will take it one meet at a time and see what happens,” Taubl said. “I am very much looking forward to the journey of the outdoor season. We seem to have a very strong team mentality and it makes me very optimistic.”

The regular season is scheduled to begin Tuesday, April 9, at Bethel when the Hawks take on the host Wildcats as well as Joel Barlow of Redding and Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport beginning at 4 pm. Newtown’s first home meet is set for Tuesday, April 23 when Masuk of Monroe, Notre Dame-Fairfield, and Stratford visit Blue & Gold Stadium, also at 4 o’clock.

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