NHS Cross Country Teams Win

Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams ran in the rain and mud on the trails at Joel Barlow High School in Redding on Tuesday. The girls came away with two wins and a loss, and the boys defeated both of the opponents they faced.

In the girls’ meet, NHS fell to host Barlow, 34-23, but earned a 20-41 win over Weston and a 15-50 triumph over Lauralton Hall of Milford to come out with an 8-4 overall mark this fall.

Newtown’s top-25 finishers are as follows: 2. Brianne Moulder, 20:37; 3. Hannah Schwartz, 20:54; 9. Talia Fappiano, 22:06; 11. Laura Hornby, 22:31; 14. Kelly Coughlin, 22:52; 16. Kathryn Allessandro, 23:05; 18. Julia Faxon, 23:13; 19. Sarah Mawdsley, 23:13; 21. Kristen D’Girolamo, 23:29; 25. Kiera Elkow, 23:42.

In the boys’ meet, Newtown defeated Barlow 21-28 and topped Weston 24-32 to improve to 10-1. It was a familiar finish with Jake Feinstein again leading the entire pack and a trio of NHS runners coming across the line in succession to key the team’s first-place overall result. Feinstein won the meet in a time of 16:32. Christopher Gamble, Mitchell Russo, and Paul Mangiafico again finished back-to-back-to-back, claiming the fourth through sixth spots with times of 17:04, 17:05, and 17:14.

The rest of Newtown’s top 25 runners are as follows: 14. Rob Russo, 18:12; Nate Steinebray, 18:15; 16. Joey Whelan, 18:27; 18. Grandon Smith, 18:34; 19. Kyle Mangold, 18:39; 23. Tom Floros, 18:51.

The regular season ends with a visit to Brookfield against the hosts, as well as Oxford and Notre Dame-Fairfield, on Tuesday, October 9. The postseason commences with the South-West Conference championships at Bethel on October 18.