There is a new coach on board to lead the way for Newtown High School’s girls’ cross country team. Christina Caron succeeds Rich Marcello, who departed for a collegiate coaching position at SUNY Oneonta.

Caron is new to coaching at Newtown High but has deep coaching and town roots — having directed high school runners in FCIAC school Fairfield for nearly two decades and lived in Sandy Hook for 11 years — and now the Newtown resident is bringing it all together by leading a team in her home town.

“After coaching in Fairfield for 17 years, I felt I needed a change. I coached both the boys and girls there. When the opportunity came up this summer to coach the girls in Newtown and be closer to my family in the afternoons, I jumped on it. With my daughter going to NHS in two years, hopefully playing sports, I knew my coaching days in Fairfield were limited. Being in Newtown allows me to continue doing what love doing — coaching — while being able to watch my own kids,” Caron said.

“I also loved the idea of just coaching the girls and focusing on them. I ran in college and still do today. My philosophy is to help these girls not only get faster and win championships but, more importantly, instill in them a passion for running and confidence in themselves to be lifelong runners. I couldn’t be more excited about this new challenge in my life with this great group of girls,” added Caron, who continues to work as a guidance counselor in Fairfield.

Caron, who competed in sports in upstate New York before getting into cross country at the collegiate level, ran at Springfield College.

She is joined by assistant Megan Carroll, who assisted with the NHS track program last year.

Newtown’s new head coach and her husband, Mark, have two children — seventh-grader Isabelle and fourth-grader Marc — both of whom are very active in town athletics.

Marc is the athletic director at Bethel High, one of Newtown’s South-West Conference rival schools and the host venue for the annual conference cross country championships.

“It’s kind of nice to be in the same conference as him,” said Caron, adding that she looks forward to a little friendly competition between the two programs.

Most of all, she is looking forward to making running enjoyable for athletes of different skill levels for years to come.

“I’m super excited to take over,” Caron said.