REDDING — Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams laced up and took off on the course at Joel Barlow High to kick off the campaign on September 10. The girls defeated the host Barlow Falcons 25-33 and beat Bunnell of Stratford 15-50. On the boys’ side, NHS defeated Barlow 15-46 and topped Bunnell 18-43.

Natalie McLean won the girls’ race in a time of 21:24, Grace Lyons placed third in 22:01, and the Nighthawks took the sixth through ninth spots as Jesse Moore came across the finish line in 24:20, Annabelle Foley and Claire DiNoto both in 24:22, and Britta Petersen in 24:23. Annie Fattre was 11th in 24:36 and Olivia Bossio-Dotolo came in 12th with a time of 25:01.

The boys were led by race winner Ubay Dissa in 18:42. Other Nighthawks to follow were Orion Lowery in 18:43, Duncan Kolb in 18:51, Brian Sibley in a time of 19:03, Steven Sibley crossing the line in 19:15, Aarav Shetty in 20:59 and Mitchell Greenhaw clocking in at 21:14.

The Newtown squads will travel to take on host Weston, New Milford, and Stratford on Tuesday September 17 and the first and only home meet is set for a week later, September 24, when Bethel and Brookfield visit the Reed School trails; the girls start at 4:30 followed by the boys at 5 pm in these meets.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.