SWC Track Championship—

Nighthawks Overcome Hurdles On — And Off — Track

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ track and field team competed in the South-West Conference Championship at New Fairfield High on May 22 and placed tenth among 14 schools. The team result likely would have been better if not for a weather-created scheduling conflict for some of the team members, but could have been worse if not for the effort of those participants just to compete in part of the meet.

The meet, originally scheduled for May 20, was postponed due to rain. The change in schedule meant team members Cody Cullens, Steve Ashbolt, and Ryan Hudock initially thought they could not compete in order to attend the University of Connecticut’s two-day freshman orientation. The UConn-bound trio, however, received permission to leave their orientation for the afternoon to get to New Fairfield to compete in the meet — before proceeding to head back to Storrs for the rest of their orientation.

The running around and overcoming hurdles was not limited to the track for these members of the Nighthawk squad on this day.

Because it was unknown if they would arrive in time for the start of the competition, they had to be scratched from the early events. Cullens missed competing in the 110 meter hurdles and triple jump and Ashbolt and Hudock were both scratched from the 100 meters. As it turned out, the boys got there in time to watch the events they had hoped to compete in, but risking their timely arrival could not be taken because if they missed those early events the trio would have forfeited competing.

“It’s definitely good we made the effort to get down there,” Ashbolt said. “It was definitely worth taking a break from college orientation to get back to our team because that’s where we are now.”

Ashbolt and Hudock helped Newtown earn a fifth-place metal in the 4x100 meter relay event, Hudock also took second place in the 300 meter hurdles and Cullens was sixth in the 300 hurdles.

As a team, Newtown scored 27 points. Bunnell won the meet with 113.50.

Newtown’s individual results were as follows:

4x800 relay:  Tyler Adams, Alex DiNoto, Tucker Grose, and Matt Saxonmeyer, 8:48.10, sixth

4x100 relay: Evan Baretto, Kevin Bonacci, Kris Kling, and Mike Maher 47.20, ninth

110 hurdles: Marc Bonacci 18.53, 12th

100: Jamie Goodwick 11.43, seventh

1600: Kevin Hoyt 4:45.51, ninth

400: Kris Kling 54.60, sixth; Jon Toll 55.18, eighth

300 hurdles: Ryan Hudock  41.47, second; Cody Cullens 43.29, sixth; Chris Salvatore 45.01, 11th

800: Matt Saxonmeyer 2:10.48, 10; Tucker Grose 2:14.30, 13th

200: Jamie Goodwick 23.04, third, Steve Ashbolt 24.11, 12; Mike Maher 24.50, 17th place

3200: Kevin Hoyt 10:04.41, seventh; David Meyer 10:22.96, eighth

4x400: Steve Ashbolt, Ryan Hudock, Kris Kling and Jon Toll 3:36.77, fifth

Long jump: Kevin Bonacci 17-9, tenth

Triple jump: Jamie Goodwick 39-11, seventh

Javelin throw: John Wlasuk 139-1, seventh

High jump: Mike Maher 5-6, 12th

Pole vault: Jamie Goodwick 12, second; Tim Cawley 10-6, seventh; Chris Salvatore 10, ninth.