Soheib Dissa ran off his birthday cake before having it. Dissa, celebrating his big day, did so in quickness style, finishing first in a time of 16:41, as the Newtown High School boys’ cross country team defeated two of three opponents in the squad’s lone home meet, on the Fairfield Hills trails near Reed School, on September 19.

The Nighthawk girls had similar success, also winning two of three as both squads piled up fast times and solid placements.

Newtown’s girls defeated Brookfield 17-46 and Bunnell of Stratford 15-50, and fell 32-25 to New Fairfield. Keira Budge placed second in 20:22, 16 seconds out of first overall. Clara D’Amico and Grace Lyons (both with times of 21:37) and Grace Chiriatti (22:17) combined to claim the sixth through eighth spots.

Jessica Zhang finished 11th in 23:20, Annabelle Foley was 12th in 23:21, Britta Peterson came in 13th in 23:28. Other Hawks to crack the top 20 were Nadia Andrew, 15th in 24:02; Kate Hugo, 17th in 24:48; and Claire Dinoto who was 19th, coming across the finish line in 24:43.

In the boys’ race, Newtown defeated Bunnell 17-46 and New Fairfield 18-45, and fell 31-26 to Brookfield. Dissa was followed by second-place finisher Noah Masotta with a time of 17:23. Wilson Lowery was eighth in 19:09. The Hawks claimed places 12 through 15; Andrew Arena in 19:12, Brian Sibley in 19:13, Shawn Cardamone with a time of 19:15, and Stephen Sibley clocking in at 19:23. NHS also earned spots 17 through 20 with Mitchell H. Greenhaw recording a time of 19:29, Adrian Totir finished in 19:35, Evan Chaudhary finishing in 20:38, and Oliver Clancy in 20:39.

Boys’ Coach Carl Strait and Girls’ Coach Christina Caron were pleased with the efforts of their runners.

“We got to run on our home course on a beautiful day,” Strait said.

The NHS squads have three more races against South-West Conference teams as they prepare for the October 18 SWC Championships, at Bethel High.

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