By Kim J. Harmon

SOUTHBURY – The Nighthawks don’t really need any extra motivation when it comes down to a South-West Conference meet with Pomperaug.

No, what they really need is a little bit of luck – and maybe an unbelievable performance or two – to upset their arch-rivals from Southbury. Okay, the ‘Hawks got some exceptional performances from Kyle Tobin and Vinny Nitopi (each a double winner), but Pomperaug had all the luck (not to mention great ability) in a 931/2 -561/2  win over Newtown.

The Panthers swept the quad-meet with Masuk and New Milford and raised their unbeaten record to 8-0. With a 103.5-45.5 win over Masuk and a 87.5-62.5 loss to New Milford, Newtown dipped its own record to 3-3    . . . which is certainly not bad in a rebuilding year.

“We were disappointed in the outcome,”_said coach Ed Obloj, “but we were pleased with our team’s effort and enthusiasm.”

The coaching staff of Newtown spent a lot of time and brain power trying to figure out a lineup that could beat Pomperaug and came up with a lineup it thought would do the trick. But it didn’t work out so well.

Still, the ‘Hawks got a number of solid performances and several personal bests.

Tobin was probably Newtown’s best performer of the afternoon, capturing first in the 110 high hurdles (16.5, a personal best) and the 300 intermediate hurdles (42.9, another personal best), second in the 200 meter dash (23.8), and anchoring a strong 4x400 relay team.

Meanwhile, Nitopi was strong in the field events with a first-place finish in the shot put (42-6) and discus (118-41/2 ).

Jeff Heller had a good meet for Newtown, as well, coming in third in the 1,600-meter (4:57) and 3,200-meter (10:48) races.

TJ_Maguire (shot put at 34-1 and discus at 95-1), Dave Strong and Dave Zuluaga (pole vault, at 9-0 and 8-6, respectively), and Dave Clancy (javelin, at 129-6)_all turned in personal bests.

On Friday, the ‘Hawks will travel to Bunnell to take on Bunnell, Immaculate and Notre Dame.

Next Tuesday, though, the ‘Hawks will travel down to Brookfield to take on Brookfield and Weston in a smaller tri-meet.

PHS 93.5, NEWTOWN 56.5

NEWTOWN 103.5, MASUK 45.5

NMHS 87.5, NEWTOWN 62.5

TRACK EVENTS

4x800 relay – 1. Pomperaug 2:46, 2. Newtown 8:48.8, 3. New Milford 9:10.0, 4. Masuk 9:44.

4x100 relay – 1. New Milford 47.6, 2. (tie) Newtown and Pomperaug 47.9, 4. Masuk 49.93.

4x400 relay – 1. Pomperaug 3:39, 2. Newtown 3:47, 3. New Milford 3:50.

100 meter dash – 1. (tie) Brady (P) 11.7, Delaney (NM) 11.7, Henion (NM) 11.7.

200 meter dash – 1. Benson (P) 22.65, 2. Tobin (N) 23.8, 3. (tie) Henion (NM) and Brady (P) 23.8.

400 meters – 1. Henson (P) 52.4, 2. Hamill (P) 54.6, 3. Henion (NM) 56.0.

800 meters – 1. Somok (P) 2:06, 2. Stiles (M) 3:08, 3. Benson (NM).

1,600 meters – 1. Somok (P) 4:51, 2. Lechti (M) 4:56, Heller (N) 4:57.

3,200 meters – 1. Cole (P) 10:35, 2. Harrington (M) 10:43, 3. Heller (N) 10:48.

110 high hurdles – 1. Tobin (N) 16.1, 2. Mix (P) 16.5, 3. Wheatley (M) 17.9.

300 meter hurdles – 1. Tobin (N) 42.9, 2. Mix (P) 44.5, 3. Perreault (P) 45.7.

FIELD EVENTS

High jump – 1. Burns (NM) 5-8, 2. Puscateri (M) 5-8, 3. Gannon (P) 5-6.

Long jump – 1. Burns (NM) 19-0, 2. Hayes (N) 17-111/4 , 3. Mentessana (N) 17-0.

Shot put – 1. Nitopi (N) 42-6, 2. Puscateri (M) 40-10, 3. Benson (P) 36-1.

Discus – 1. Nitopi (N) 118-41/2 , 2. Puscateri (M) 110-1, 3. Morrell (NM) 105-7.

Javelin – 1. Puscateri (M) 141-1/2 , 2. Whitman (M) 131-6, 3. Genovese (P) 129-11.

Pole vault – 1. Genovese (P) 11-6, 2. Kenyon, 3. Rancourt (P) 9-6.

Triple jump – 1. Burns (NM) 38-5, 2. Hayes (NM) 37-10, 3. Thompson (P) 37-8.