Cross Country Teams Run After SWC Titles

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams both have the goal of winning South-West Conference titles this fall. Both teams retain a bulk of talent from last year’s squads and have plenty of depth.

The girls were 16-0 last year, second in the SWC Championships, fourth in the Class LL State Championships, and finished ninth in the State Open.

Newtown’s runner-up finish in the SWC is nothing to sneeze at, but it marked the end of quite a run of success. The Nighthawks had a stranglehold on the conference title for seven years before setting for second a season ago.

“We’d like to get the conference title back,” Coach Doug Russell said. “We hope to reclaim our SWC conference championship and qualify for State Open and New Englands.”

Tough opponents in the SWC will be New Milford, Pomperaug, and New Fairfield, the coach anticipates.

Newtown lost just one graduate, Scarlett O’Sullivan, from the top seven and had only four seniors overall in 2009.

Senior captains this year are Mara Scallon, Anne Martino, and Dani Villa.

Other key runners to watch are sophomore Jenny vanVeen, a member of the track team’s conference title-winning and school record-setting 4x800 relay group, juniors Erin Begg and Alex Klein, and seniors Ale Fuentes, Emily Floros, and Faith Mangiafico.

“Last year we had a strong top group. But, this year, I think that top group is going to be even stronger,” Russell said.

The coach said the a wealth of up-and-coming talented runners will push the returnees in practice.

Newtown’s boys’ squad is coming off a 7-6 campaign in which the Hawks placed fifth in the SWC.

The boys’ team’s attempt to win the conference title hinges more on newcomers than it does for the girls. Three of the top seven from a year ago, Andrew LaMarche, Matt Bobkowski, and Erik Hoffman, all leave shoes to fill.

Coach Dave Foss, however, is impressed with the talent that returns.

This year’s captains are seniors Ryan Powers, Austin Baldour, Scott Wexler, and Vinny Brophy. Other key runners are sophomore Jake Feinstein, who won this year’s Newtown Road Race, juniors Pat Sullivan, Palmer Lintz and Dieter Gutbrod, and senior David Klein.

“We hope to win SWCs this year, make it to State Open Championships, then qualify for New England Championships. We have a lot of depth — even more than we did last year,” Foss said. “What hurt us last year was a lack of a number one runner. We now have that with Feinstein.”

Foss added that the team has a group of other runners that stand to finish near the front in races.

Tough SWC teams to watch for are the usual suspects: New Milford, Brookfield, and Pomperaug, along with Weston High.