Girls’ Track Team Races Toward Championship Season

By Kelley Baylis

With the postseason meets, including the South-West Conference championships, less than two weeks away, members of the Newtown High School girls’ track and field teams are keeping their heads up high and racing to the finish line.

The girls had a meet at Weston on Monday and brought home three more wins to improve their impressive record to 11-1. Newtown defeated Weston 85.5-64.5, New Milford 83-67, and Stratford 136-14. Coach Doug Russell has been more than pleased with the season thus far. “We had an exceptional day with the field events and a solid day on the track. We are looking strong going into SWCs in two weeks,” Russell said.

With the impressive results in the field events, the girls were able to earn many victories to bring in many points for the team. Courtney Beckett finished first in the high jump, with Bri Hart following close behind for second place.

Amy Anyoha brought in another first-place result in shot-put. Meanwhile, Micaela Nowacki finished first in the discus event.

There was no surprise when Lauren O’Connell broke the pole vault record once again. This time she cleared it at 11 feet 7 inches. Jenna Calandro finished fourth in the pole vault at 7 feet and 6 inches, followed by Mackenzie Lapp, who finished fifth at 7 feet.

The results of the track events did not fail to impress either. The 300 meter hurdles brought in the most points with the top five finishes from Newtown: Melissa Buccino finished first with a time of 49.5, Zoe Eggleston second in 51.3, Lydia Beiter third in 51.4, Jill Vazquez fourth in 54.5, and Molly Arneth fifth with a time of 54.5.

Another first place finish on the track was earned by Reagan Cerney in the 800 meter run. Cerney ran a time of 2:21.3.

The 3200 meter run was also another event in which Newtown dominated with the top three finishers. Katie Burns finished first with a time of 12:26.6. Not far behind was Jenny vanVeen who finished second at 12:35.6. In third place was Hannah Schwartz with a time of 12:51.6.

The girls will compete in their final meet of the regular season, which is their Senior Night, at Blue & Gold Stadium, on Monday, May 14.

The SWC championships will be held at Bethel High School at 3 pm on Monday, May 21.