Date: Fri 14-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Indoor-Track-Title

Full Text:

Indoor Track Girls Win 1997 Championship

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

It was all about the right attitude for the Newtown High School girls' indoor

track team . . . so what if you lose most of the battles, as long as you win

the war.

The Nighthawks won just two of the battles, but won the war - the war being

the South-West Conference Indoor Track championship. Scoring 113 points, the

favored Nighthawks held off Masuk by five points to capture their first

conference title.

"I don't think Masuk has nearly the number of horses we do," said head coach

Brandt Schneider, "and I think they stretched it out a little thin. For us, it

was the team aspect. Sure we only won two events, but we won a lot of seconds

and then fourths and fifths."

Freshman Janelle Tracy and senior Katie McClure were the only individual

winners for Newtown, with Tracy grabbing the title in the 50-meter dash and

McClure earning first in the long jump. Becky Crane (500 and 800 meters),

Shannon Elf (50 meters), Tracy (300 meters), the 4-by-400 and 4-by-240 relays,

and Becky Osborne (shot put) all took home second place.

"Everyone needed to contribute," said coach Schneider, "and everyone did."

Crane, in particular, contributed as much as she could but simply found

herself on the short end of the clock. She finished second in the 500 by

17/100ths of a second and second in the 800 by 19/100ths of a second.

Coach Schneider went into the SWC championships knowing it was going to be a

two-horse race . . . Newtown versus Masuk. Lauralton Hall and Bunnell had

talent, but not enough to contend for the title. And he also knew that Masuk

was strong enough to win all of the relay events and that his girls would need

to win enough points to offset that.

"We expected Masuk to win all the relays," coach Schneider said, "and we

needed to come in right behind them."

Masuk, in fact, won the 4-by-400 and 4-by-240 relays and finished second in

the sprint medley and 4-by-400. Newtown was second in the 400 and 240 relays,

fourth in the sprint medley, and third in the 4-by-400.

Right behind.

What may have won the meet for the Nighthawks, or what at least provided the

impetus, was a strong showing in the field events and an even stronger showing

in the sprints.

In the shot put, Becky Osborne and Kristin Denninger went 2-3 behind Rose Pine

of Joel Barlow. Denninger also took third in the high jump and then McClure

took her first in the long jump.

In the sprints, Tracy and Elf were 1-2 in the 50 meters. Tracy then took

second in the 300 meters and Crane followed up with her second in the 500

meters. Masuk finished first in the 300 and 500, but did not place well in the

50.

"Going 1-2 in the dash was huge," said coach Schneider. "Masuk had three

people in the event . . . but we had the two fastest."

Newtown also earned a couple critical points in the 3,200 meters. Masuk did

not place anyone and Newtown needed to grab some points, which was where

Jackie Baressi came in.

"We needed her to finish fourth," coach Schneider remembered. "She was running

right behind the girl who was in fourth and as she's running by us she says,

loud enough for the girl to hear, `the last lap, she's mine.' And in the last

lap, she takes her."

The Nighthawks also got good support from its so-called B team, with athletes

like Sasha Didier, Beth Chontos and Melissa Cartoun provided some nice back

end points.

"On a great day, we could have won two or three more events," said coach

Schneider. "Every kid gave it everything they had."

Boys Take 7th

With a very small team, the Nighthawks boys were not expecting much at the SWC

championships.

But with Reid Warner taking second in the long jump and second in the pole

vault - this after just returning to the team from an injury layoff - provided

enough impetus for the boys to score 20 points and finish seventh our of eight

teams.

"The big story was Reid," said coach Schneider. "He did 18 feet in the long

jump, which was his best distance, and then he did 11 feet in the pole vault.

We were surprised by the kid from Pomperaug (Derek Barbarisi), who never

jumped (12 feet) before."

Meanwhile, Ryan Hodnick finished fifth in the 1,600 meters at 5:08 and John

Cedor took fifth in the 3,200 meters at 11:33.

Results

Girls

Team Scores - 1. Newtown, 113; 2. Masuk, 108; 3. Lauralton Hall, 74; 4.

Bunnell, 59.5; 5. Stratford, 27.5; 6. Joel Barlow, 20.

4-by-800 relay - 1. Lauralton Hall, 11:04.40; 2. Masuk, 11:24.63; 3. Newtown

(Hoeffel, Doherty, Haynes, Tuot), 12:23.11.

1,000 meters - 1. Covelli (NM), 3:24.51; 2. Westermann (LH), 3:31.12; 3.

Gately (JL), 3:31.56; 6. Baressi (N), 3:40.00.

500 meters - 1. Robinson (M), 1:24.69; 2. Crane (N), 1:24.88; 3. Shawah (S),

1:30.71; 5. Pierce (N), 1:32.00.

50m high hurdles - 1. Rothrock (B), 8.34; 2. Geismar (M), 8.73; 3. Estlick

(M), 8.97.

50 meters - 1. Tracy (N), 7.18; 2. Elf (N), 7.36; 3. DeVito (B), 7.40.

1,600 meters - 1. Romano (P), 5:54.71; 2. Wing (LH), 5:55.24; 3. Dillon (N),

6:12.80; 7. Tuot (N), 6:42.00.

Sprint medley relay - 1. Stratford, 5:04.60; 2. Masuk, 5:06.17; 3. Lauralton

Hall, 5:09.89; 4. Newtown (Didier, Pease, Cartoun, Chontos), 5:21.00.

800 meters - 1. Romano (P), 2:32.04; 2. Crane (N), 2:23.23; 3. Covelli (NM),

2:37.09.

300 meters - 1. Robinson (M), 44.69; 2. Tracy (N), 46.53; 3. DeVito (B),

47.58; 5. Elf (N), 48.0.

3,200 meters - 1. Romano (P), 12:30.83; 2. Gately (JL), 12:32.48; 3. Green

(LH), 13:17.76; 4. Baressi (N), 14:35.00.

4-by-400 relay - 1. Masuk, 4:49.48; 2. Newtown (Chontos, Pierce, Didier, Rod),

4:51.50; 3. Lauralton Hall, 5:02.36.

4-by-240 relay - 1. Masuk, 2:28.19; 2. Newtown (Cartoun, McClure, Wolferseder,

Tracy), 2:37.09; 3. Lauralton Hall, 2:39.76.

Shot put - 1. Pine (JB), 33-9; 2. Osborne (N), 31-9«; 3. Denninger (N), 31-1.

High jump - 1. Hueget (JB), 5-0; 2. Kelley (M), 4-10; 3. Denninger (N), 4-8.

Long jump - 1. McClure (N), 13-11«; 2. Estlick (M), 13-6¬; 3. Genest (M),

13-1¬; 5. Wolferseder (N), 11-1.