Following Senior Night Success, Girls’ Track Team Is Off To SWCs

By Kelley Baylis

Nothing could stop the Newtown High school girls’ track and field from performing well in the final home meet of the season on Monday. Even a little rain wasn’t going to prevent the girls’ from celebrating their seniors and concluding their regular season on a high note.

The girls defeated Pomperaug 85-65, and New Fairfield 107.5-42.5 to finish the season at 13-1.

Even with these victories, Coach Doug Russell had bittersweet feelings about the meet. “I have coached the majority of these girls for four years so it will be a sad day when they are all graduated. They have been a solid group and have performed at top levels since they have been here. They will truly be missed for their leadership and athletic abilities,” Russell said.

Pomperaug’s and New Fairfield’s girls earned a majority of the first-place finishes on the track but Newtown won the meet because of its depth with several strong finishes within each event, and multiple firsts in the field events. The 100 meter hurdles was a close race, with Newtown’s Melissa Buccino finishing second, only 0.1 of a second away from Pomperaug’s first-place finisher. Buccino finished with a time of 16.1 while teammate Zoe Eggleston finished third in 16.6.

Reagan Cerney dominated the race in the 800 meter, finishing first with a time of 2:26.3, far ahead of the rest of the group. Cassandra Fallon finished fifth with a time of 2:46.1.

The field events brought in many points for the girls. Lauren O’Connell finished first in pole vault, clearing it at 11 feet. Jenna Calandro placed fourth at 7 feet. The triple jump had the top three finishers from Newtown, with O’Connell finishing first, Jenna Calandro second, and Abby Blakeman third.

The javelin also brought in more wins for the team, with Stephanie Clavette finishing first, and Micaela Noawcki second. The discus event finishers were extremely impressive with the five top finishers from Newtown. Amy Anyoha finished first, Micaela Nowacki second, Megan Condon third, Jenny Morrissey third, and Maddie Erhardt fourth for the girls. In the shot-put, Anyoha finished first, Nowacki second, and Condon fourth.

Many of the girls are getting ready for South Western Conference Championships which will be held on Monday, May 21. “We will be taking close to 30 girls to the Championships on Monday. It is a mix of returning athletes and freshman. We are really strong in the field events and solid on the track. It should be a close meet with a number of teams bringing strong athletes in a variety of events,” Coach Russell said.

Russell has high hopes for the athletes, and thinks they are capable of some solid finishes on Monday. “I would like to say we are in the running for the title but I can point out at least three to four other teams who should be saying the same thing. It all really depends on which student athletes can really step it up on Monday and perform to the best of their ability. It should be a great competition.” he said.