Nighthawks’ Strong Indoor Track Season Concludes

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams had strong campaigns this winter, with several individuals achieving personal best results in their events, as well as tying or breaking school records. The season came to an end this past weekend in the State Open at the New Haven Athletic Center on Saturday.

Lauren Sudbey qualified for the open in pole vault and long jump. Sudbey, who set the NHS mark with a jump of 16-8.75, was 12th at the open with a jump of 15-06. She also tied for 12th with teammate Emily Korth in the pole vault with an 8-06.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Korth said of the success the Nighthawks have experienced. “I didn’t expect to make it this far.”

 Sudbey had set the NHS record with a 9 feet in pole vault earlier this season. Keegan Frobey tied the school mark with a high jump of 5 feet this past campaign.

“We’ve done really well because we’ve had a lot of people break school records,” Sudbey said.

Korth and Frobey both competed in the high jump at the open and tied for 15th with jumps of 4-10.

Kevin Hoyt was the lone NHS boys’ team representative at the open. He qualified in the 3200 meter event and placed 10th in a time of 9:51.65.

Although the members of the boys’ 4 x 240 relay team did not qualify for the open, they did break the school record with a time of 2:07.77 this season. Those relay team members are Cody Cullens, Josh Miles, Jon Toll, and Steve Ashbolt. Cullens also set the school mark in long jump with a leap of 18-8.5.

“It’s been a lot of fun this year watching the team grow. I think just about everyone on the team set a personal best and a few kids also tied or broke old school records, which was pretty exciting,” Cullens said. “We had a really great time together.”

“The indoor program has really come a long way,” Coach Doug Russell added. “I think it was a really successful season.”