By Kim J. Harmon

REDDING – Much like lots of teams, the Nighthawks found themselves stuck this season at the beginning of the rebuilding spiral that follows the mass graduation of top flight talent. But somehow the ‘Hawks – with a lot of fresh talent and the stepping up of returning talent – have been able to stand firm.

With wins over Stratford and New Fairfield on Tuesday at Joel Barlow in Redding, the ‘Hawks raised their impressive season record to 10-4 and will take that accomplishment with them into the South-West Conference championship meet next Tuesday at Bunnell High School.

The ‘Hawks did it Tuesday with depth, since just Joe Blanchard (800 meters, 2:08), Kyle Tobin (300 hurdles, 42.2) and Vinny Nitopi (shot put, 41-71/2 ) recorded individual first-place finishes. The 4x400 relay team of Tobin, Regan, Tom Fullman and Blanchard had the only other first-place finish for the ‘Hawks.

But with five second-place finishes and five third-place finishes, the ‘Hawks were able to slip past Stratford (80-69) and New Fairfield (79-71). Newtown did suffer an 81-69 loss to Joel Barlow, which finished the regular season at 13-1 yet second to 14-0 Pomperaug.

Tobin had an excellent meet, taking first in the 300 hurdles and then adding a second-place finish in the 110 high hurdles (16.3, a virtual tie with Ross of Stratford) and a fourth-place finish in the  200-meter dash (23.7, two-tenths of a second off the leader).

Anthony Mentessana took second in the 100-meter dash (11.5) while Nitopi was second in the discus (118-3). The 4x100 and 4x800 relay teams both took second place in their events to help push Newtown over the top. Jeff Heller, meanwhile, took third in both the 1,600- (4:56.1) and 3,200-meter (10:46) races. Ryan Ignatius finished third in the 800 meters (2:12.36.

The next best finish was Regan in the 400 meters, coming in third in 55.1.

BARLOW 81, NEWTOWN 69

NEWTOWN 80, STRATFORD 69

NEWTOWN 79, N. FAIRFIELD 71

TRACK EVENTS

4x100 relay – 1. Joel Barlow 45.8, 2. Newtown 46.0, 3. New Fairfield 46.8, 4. Stratford 46.9.

4x400 relay – 1. Newtown (Tobin, Regan, Fullman, Blanchard) 3:37, 2. Joel Barlow 3:38.6, 3. New Fairfield 3:42, 4. Stratford 4:04.

4x800 relay – 1. New Fairfield 8:41, 2. Newtown 8:56, 3. Joel Barlow 9:56.6.

100 meter dash – 1. Smith (NF) 11.4, 2. Mentessana (N) 11.5, 3. McDowell (S) 11.6, 4. Wohl (JB) 12.0, 5. Kasson, Kelly, Conetta (JB) 12.1.

200 meter dash – 1. Smith (NF) 23.5, 2. McDowell (S) 23.6, 3. Conetta (JB) 23.7, 4. Tobin (N) 23.7, 5. Tanucci (S) 23.9.

400 meters – 1. Kaufman (JB) 53.6, 2. McDowell (S) 54.1, 3. Regan (N) 55.1, 4. Epstein (JB) 55.3, 5. Terrane (N) 56.3.

800 meters – 1. Blanchard (N) 2:08, 2. Donnelly (NF) 2:09, 3. Ignatius (N) 2:12.36, 4. Brigant (N) 2:12.85, 5. Thibault (JB) 2:14.

1,600 meters – 1. Wilbert (NF) 4:42.8, 2. (JB) Wayne 4:46.8, 3. Heller (N) 4:56.1, 4. DaSilva (S) 4:56.9, 5. Hostler (NF) 4:59.4.

3,200 meters – 1. Wilbert (NF) 10:28, 2. (JB) Wayne 10:39, 3. Heller (N) 10:46, 4. DaSilva (S) 10:53, 5. Hostler (NF) 11:09.

110 meter high hurdles – 1. Ross (S) 16.3, 2. Tobin (N) 16.3, 3. Dahms (B) 16.6, 4. Maxwell (B) 17.6, 5. Ottulich (NF) 18.1.

300 intermediate hurdles – 1. Tobin (N) 42.2, 2. Ross (S) 44.3, 3. Maxwell (JB) 44.7, 4. Paola (B) 45.0, 5. Napoleone (N) 45.5.

FIELD EVENTS

Javelin – 1. Tanucci (S) 152-7, 2. Dahms (JB) 138-0, 3. Loux (S) 135-5, 4. Clancy (N) 130-5, 5. St. Jacques (NF) 130-4.

Shot put – 1. Nitopi (N) 41-71/2 , 2. Loux (S) 41-1, 3. Signore (JB) 39-3, 4. Meek (NF) 38-8, 5. DeAngelo (NF) 35-6.

Discus – 1. Slvack (NF) 122-61/2 , 2. Nitopi (N) 118-3, 3. St. Jacques (NF) 115-10, 4. Signore (JB) 112-4, 5. Arseniada (NF) 104-1.

Pole vault – 1. Dimond (NF) 11-0, 2. St. Jacques (NF) 10-6, 3. Gaughan (NF) 10-6, 4. Maxwell (JB) 10-6, 5. Van Steinberg (JB) 10-0.

Long jump – 1. Tanucci (S) 19-21/2 , 2. Paola (JB) 18-10, 3. Wohl (JB) 18-51/4 , 4. Wauthier (S) 18-41/2 , 5. Ambrogio (N) 17-2-1/2 .

Triple jump – 1. Wauthier (S) 38-61/2 , 2. Stapleton (JB) 37-61/2 , 3. Ambrogio (N) 36-7, 4. Frat (S) 36-61/2 , 5. Dimond (NF) 35-91/2 .

High jump – 1. Paola (JB) 5-10, 2. Wauthier (S) 5-6, 3. Liarviere (NF) 5-6, 4. Smith (NF) 5-6, 5. Ottulich (NF) 5-6.