Newtown High School’s girls’ cross country team has a group of returning standouts and some impressive new talent as the Nighthawks look to put together some strong races this fall. The Nighthawks are traditionally one of the best teams in the South-West Conference and again will look to finish ahead of most of the pack.

“Every season we strive to be one of the top three teams in the SWC and qualify for the State Open meet. We have a lot of depth on our team with returning and new runners,” Coach Christina Caron said.

New Milford (which has won each of the last four SWC titles), New Fairfield (which has taken the last three runner-up spots), and Pomperaug of Southbury are expected to be the most challenging conference foes the Nighthawks will face.

Returning runners who will make an impact include four captains, Nadia Andrew, Natalie McLean, Claire DiNoto, and Olivia Bossio-Dotolo, as well as Annie Fattore, Maddie Britton, and Annie Kane. New runners who show potential to be in top seven include Kelley Ferriter and Audrey McLean.

“Strengths include being very cohesive and pushing each other. We have the most numbers we have ever had,” said Caron said, whose team boasts 35 athletes. “Always excited for cross country season — the girls are always so great to work with and very coachable. We have several new runners including freshman and upper class girls, some who played other sports in the fall. Given that there are so many other girls’ sports to choose from in the fall, we are very happy our program continues to grow.”

The Nighthawks come into the campaign well-conditioned from summer workouts with several team members having logged milestone mileage.

“We gave our girls an incentive to run 100 miles this summer. Any girl who reached this goal earned a NHS 100 mile club shirt,” Newtown’s coach said.

The Hawks had six returning runners who completed the 100 mile challenge and several others who logged significant mileage in preparation for the campaign.

Newtown’s first race of the season is Tuesday, September 9, when the Nighthawks go to Settlers Park in Southbury to take on Pomperaug and Immaculate of Danbury. The Hawks will get a look at New Milford in a meet at Weston the following Tuesday. The only home meet on the slate is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7, when the Nighthawks close out the regular campaign against Bunnell of Stratford, New Fairfield, and Notre Dame Prep of Fairfield at the Reed School course. All of these meets begin at 5 pm.

The SWC Championships will take place at Bethel High on Wednesday, October 15 at 4:30 pm.

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