BETHEL — Newtown High School’s boys’ cross country team's South-West Conference Championship at Bethel High on October 15 was a product of some great planning, lots of hard work, and execution on the course.

The Nighthawks scored 57 points to easily win the title; second-place Pomperaug of Southbury finished with 83.

Led by third-place runner Orion Lowery, who finished in 16:55.9, and seventh-place finisher Duncan Kolb (17:27), the Hawks had five runners among the top 17. The overall race winner was Brookfield’s Landon Wall (16:43.6). Newtown’s Bryce Taylor was 14th with a time of 17:46.9, Reid Karnas was 16th in 17:52.8, and Ubay Dissa 17th in 17:53.1.

“We knew we had the horses early,” said Head Coach Carl Strait, who saw a team with title-winning potential come up short and bring back a lot of talent to this year’s team.

One of those horses, Sebastian Colburn, went down with an early-season injury, but the pack overcame this setback with help from a healthy Kolb (injured after one meet a year ago) and the addition of Taylor to the lineup.

There was a lot of strategy that went into this championship, and the husband and wife team of Carl and Assistant Coach Sara Strait guided the boys to the pinnacle. The coaches gave all of the credit to the team members for working hard and executing.

“We planned for today’s meet and worked everything backwards for the season,” Carl Strait said. “We really pushed them. The training was through the roof for a good month.”

And then there were weeks in which the runners rested and prepared for their biggest meet of the season.

“Saving them for today helped,” the head coach said.

Another key factor in the triumph is the size of the team, with 31 participants — the lowest total Strait has coached in his decade-plus at the helm. This allowed for more focus on individual runners and maximizing the potential of each.

“We had this in our sights last season. We got the boys to put in the miles over the summer and grind it out,” Lowery said.

“We put in so much effort — to do this as a team means everything,” Kolb added.

The Nighthawk girls placed fourth with a total of 107; Pomperaug won the meet with a score of 55. NHS was paced by Natalie McLean, who was 14th in 21:56.5, and Keeley Ferriter, who came across the finish line in 15th with a time of 22:08.1. Nadia Andrew was 24th in 23:05.5, Anna Parsons came in 27th in 23:20.5, and Audrey McLean came in 32nd in 23:35.4. New Fairfield’s Katie McMorrow won the race in 19:15.7.

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