Boys Place Second, Girls Fifth—

Wlasuk Earns Trio Of Firsts In SWC Track Championships

By Anna Hodge

Led by John Wlasuk’s first-place finishes in the javelin, shot put, and discus throws, Newtown High School’s boys’ track and field team, with 89 points, placed second at the South-West Conference Championships at Bethel High on May 23. Brookfield, with 121 points, was first among 12 schools. The NHS girls, meanwhile, placed fifth overall. Newtown scored 66.75 points and Weston won the meet with 108.25. The Nighthawks came away with solid individual and team performances on this wet afternoon.

Dan McIlrath, coach of the Newtown boys, is thrilled with his team’s improvement in the past couple of seasons.

“Last year, Newtown improved from ninth place to fifth place. This year’s goal was to stay in the top five. The team had set their goals higher to do their best to take an SWC championship, and they came pretty close in doing so,” McIlrath said.

Wlasuk led the way, taking first place in javelin event, with a throw of 189-07; in the shot put, with 56-8.25; and in the discus with a heave of 171-6. According to McIlrath, the rest of the team followed Wlasuk’s lead, pulled together a series of first-place finishes and personal records, and was able to clinch second by edging out Oxford, which scored 84 points.

Standout performances included that of sophomore Jake Feinstein, who took first in the 3200 meter run with a time of 38.99, beating out a Weston competitor who followed .01 seconds later. Feinstein, along with Dieter Gutbrod, Pat Sullivan and Palmer Lintz, placed first in the 4x800 meter relay event with 8:10.82.

McIlrath emphasized the performance of several other Newtown athletes at the championship. Ken Toal, a captain, placed fifth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.85, and took seventh with 23.97 in the 200 meter.

Meanwhile, Shaun Mangold and Spencer Erhardt achieved personal bests in the pole vault; Mangold took fourth with 11-6 and Erhardt placed fifth with an 11-0. Performances from juniors Peter Kerns and Gutbrod also racked up points for the team. Kerns took fifth in the long jump with an 18-5, and Gutbrod placed fourth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:04.48.

The 4x400 team of senior captain Aaron Nezvesky, Logan Puleri, Kerns and John Hampford III also helped solidify the team’s second place finish. The relay took seventh with a time of 3:39.12.

Senior Austin Baldour, who had been in China for two weeks for an exchange program, also had a strong performance. “Baldour has been working extremely hard in the past weeks to close out his senior year to help add points to this SWC placement,” said McIlrath, adding that he finished seventh in the 3200 meter run with a season best time of 10:04.

“The boys worked extremely hard all season to make this SWC finish possible,” McIlrath said. “As a team, they came together to support and push each other to help reach personal goals and team goals. Nothing is more satisfying than when all the pieces come together when they need to.”

The coach adds that he has a hopeful outlook for Class LL state championships. “We’re not done yet, since we have 11 athletes qualified in 10 events,” McIlrath said. “If the pieces fall into place again next Tuesday for Class LLs, we have a good chance at placing there as well.”

NHS Girls Have Standouts

The Newtown girls had several top-five finishes at the SWC meet. Erin Begg, Jenny VanVeen, Anne Martino, and Mara Scallon, in the 4x800 relay, took third overall with a time of 10:02.14. The other two relays also made gains in the meet. The 4x100 meter relay team of Abby Blakeman, Brooke Newtown, Alex Scarpa, and Kyra Murray, placed fifth with 53.03 seconds, and Emma Fiore, Reagan Cerney, Lauren Pettinelli, and Alex Scarpa took fifth in the 4x400 relay with 4:21.08.

The athletes also achieved individual success on the track. Senior Lauren Pettinelli placed second in the 300 meter hurdles in a time of 48.42, and sophomore Zoe Eggleston took third in the 100 hurdles in 17.14.

“It feels great to have placed in the top three for the 100 meter [hurdles],” Eggleston said. “It just proves that if I set my sights high, I can achieve a lot. I’m looking forward to state championships.”

In the 800, Cerney placed second with 2:23.67. Newton, with a time of 27.92, took fifth in the 200 meter dash.

There was an equal amount of success in the field events. Freshman thrower Amy Anyoha took fifth in the shot put, throwing 30-6. Over at high jump, junior Bri Hart tied for third with a Pomperaug athlete, with a set height of 4-8.

In both the long jump and the triple jump, junior Lauren O’Connell dominated. She placed fifth in long jump, leaping 14-8, and took second in the triple jump with a 32-0.25. O’Connell also competed in the pole vault, where three Newtown athletes, Abby Keough, Mackenzie Lapp, and O’Connell tied for sixth at a set bar height of 8 feet.

“It was great to see all of the different teams compete, and the level of competition was definitely exciting,” said Dani Villa, a senior captain for the team. “It was rainy and cold and that added to our determination to win.”

The NHS girls also competed in their last regular meet of the season on May 19 in a meet that had been postponed a few days by rain. The team defeated Bunnell 108.5-47.5 and Stratford 136-14. The girls, like the boys, will participate in the state championships on May 31.