Track And Field Teams Continue To Pile Up Wins

By Andy Hutchison

Members of Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ track and field teams continue to amass first-place results, and school records, as the spring season unfolds. The girls’ team improved to 8-1 with three wins on April 25 and another three victories on Monday.

The boys, meanwhile, beat Masuk of Monroe and Bethel, and fell by just two points to Bunnell of Stratford in Tuesday’s competition.

Both of the teams had strong showings at the O’Grady Relays in Danbury on Saturday, as the girls’ squad finished in fourth place and the boys came in sixth.

In their April 25 home meet, at Blue & Gold Stadium, a meet that got postponed by two days because of rain, the girls defeated Oxford 103.5-43.5, toppled Lauralton Hall of Milford 140-9, and blanked Notre Dame-Fairfield 149-0.

Newtown’s 4x800 meter relay team, comprising Reagan Cerney, Erin Begg, Hannah Schwartz, and Jenny vanVeen, won its race in a time of 10:30.8.

The girls were able to bring in first through fifth places in the 100 meter hurdles. Melissa Buccino finished first in 16.7 seconds, Lydia Beiter second, Zoe Eggleston third, Molly Arneth fourth, and Jillian Vazquez fifth.

Brooke Newton won the 100 dash in a time of 13.7. Taylor Zingaro captured the 400 in a time of 66.5. Melissa Buccino claimed first in the 300 hurdles in a time of 49.9. Cerney won the 800, finishing the race in 2:24.2, a full 12 seconds faster than her nearest competitor. Newtown was victorious in the 200 in 27.9. Newton edged out teammate and second-place finisher Buccino (28.7). The Nighthawks swept the first through fifth spots in the 200 as Kyra Murray, Jackie Mooney, and Monica Macchiarulo rounded out the NHS finishers.

Newtown’s 4x400 relay contingent of Zingaro, Brittany Tola, Emily Ashbolt, and Zoe Eggleston was first in a time of 4:31.3.

In the field events, Newtown had four first-place finishes. Amy Anyoha won the shot-put competition with a throw of 33-02. Courtney Beckett leaped 4-8 to capture the high jump win. Abbey Blakeman won the long jump event with a 14-7 effort, and Mackenzie Lapp took top honors in the pole vault competition with a 7-6.

The Nighthawks don’t fail to shine even if they aren’t on their home track and turf. At the O’Grady Relays, Lauren O’Connell set a school record in the pole vault with a jump of 11-6, good for first place. O’Connell also earned a second-place result in the triple jump with a 33-10. Briana Hart came in fourth in the high jump with a 4-10 performance. Anyoha was third in the shot-put with a throw of 34-01.

The boys had some outstanding showings at the O’Grady meet as the 4x800 relay team took first overall in a time of 8:18.06. Individual standouts included John Hampford and Sam Boland in the 300 meter event, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 44.14 and 44.41.

Back to their regular season competition, the girls beat three more opponents on Monday. Newtown bested host Bunnell of Stratford 136-14, topped Bethel 102-48, and defeated Masuk 109-41.

The 4x800 relay team of Cerney, Begg, Schwartz, and vanVeen finished first in a time of 10:40.10.

Another school record was broken at the meet as well. Buccino now has the top NHS time for the 300 meter hurdles at 47.3 seconds. She earned first at this meet.

Buccino also won the 100 hurdles in 16.5. Newtown’s other firsts included Katie Burns winning the 1600 in a time of 5:43 and the 3200 in 12:58.5 and Cerney capturing the 800 in 2:32. Newtown had six of seven possible first-place results in the field events. Hart captured high jump honors with a leap of 5-0, O’Connell won the triple jump with a 32-09, Clavette won the javelin throw with a toss of 102-00, Michaela Nowacki took first in the discus with a 97-02, and O’Connell won the pole vault competition with an 11-0. Jenna Calandro was runner-up in the long jump event with a 15-0.25.

The boys, on Tuesday, visited Masuk and defeated the hosts 100-49, knocked off Bethel 86-60, and fell just short to Bunnell 76-74.

Against Masuk, Newtown’s first-place overall finishers included Hampford in the 110 hurdles, as he finished in 16.7. Jake Feinstein won both the 1600 and 3200 events. Feinstein finished the mile run in 4:34 and led the pack in the two-mile event in a time of 9:53. Peter Kerns was the 400 winner in a time of 51.4. Palmer Lintz took first in the 800 in a time of 2:07. Mac Morlock was victorious in the discus throw with a heave of 113-9. Spencer Erhardt won the pole vault competition with an 11-0.

—Kelley Baylis contributed to this article