By Steve Bigham

MANCHESTER – A fine season for the Newtown High School girls’ cross-country team came to an end last Saturday at the CIAC Class L race at Wickham Park in Manchester. Newtown finished seventh out of 25 teams in the class and fell just 20 seconds short of qualifying for the State Open as a team.

Sophomore sensation Laura Reid finished 17th overall in 16 minutes, 56 seconds to qualify as an individual for the Open. That race is slated to take place Friday.

The Nighthawks relied on Reid and a pack of five or six runners to finish third in the South-West Conference. A State Open qualification would have been the icing on the cake. However, Newtown’s top five combined to run in 89:20 and the State Open standard was 89 minutes or less.

Junior Christine Manfredonia finished second for Newtown, 49th overall in 18:01. She was followed by senior Angela Shannon, who was 51st in 18:02. Sophomore Carolyn Brennan, senior Melanie Murphy, sophomore Kaitlyn Weber and senior Sarah Macknight rounded out the Nighthawk finishers. Senior Jen Russell, one of the team’s top runners, did not run.

Manfredonia expressed her team’s disappointment in not qualifying, pointing out that 20 seconds is just four seconds per runner.

“That kills us. If we only knew that during the race,” she said.

Coach Marsha Caine commended her team’s 13-2 season and fine SWC run two weeks ago. She had hoped for better at states, however.

“It was a cold day and they did well, but they can run much faster than that,” she said.

Reid has been the story of the year for Newtown. A year ago, the petite runner finished 78th in states and, in less than a month, shaved an entire minute off her time at the Wickham course.

“Not too shabby,” said coach Caine of her young protégé, who received Class L All-State honors for her performance.

Manfredonia also made a big improvement, taking 44 seconds off her time from the Wickham Invitational earlier in the season.

An individual needs to finish in 17:30 or less in order to qualify for the State Open.

The future looks bright for the girls’ cross-country program as the bulk of this year’s team comes back in 2002.

Rod Moving On

MANCHESTER – Senior David Rod’s fine season on the cross country trail now heads to Friday afternoon’s State Open meet at Wickham Park in Manchester.

Rod qualified this past Saturday when he finished 33rd overall at the CIAC Class LL meet at the same site. He crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 19 seconds. To qualify for the Open, a runner must complete the 3.1-mile course in 17:30 or better.

Newtown did not qualify for the State Open as a team. To qualify as a team, a school’s top five scorers needed to finish in a combined time of 89 minutes or less. Newtown fell short by 90 seconds or an average of 18 seconds per runner. Powerhouse Danbury came in a full eight minutes faster than Newtown.

Dan Maxwell finished 67th in 18:02 for Newtown, while Dan Phillips was 78th in 18:15. Peter Terrence (83rd, 18:19), Chris DiNoto (99th, 18:41), Ryan Shandley (121st, 19:36) and Tyler Hull (136th, 20:16) rounded out Newtown’s seven finishers.

A total of 156 runners competed in the Class LL race.