By Steve Bigham

MANCHESTER – With the Wickham Invitational now behind them, the Newtown High School cross country teams are focusing their attention toward the all-important final leg of the season.

Neither the boys nor the girls fared particularly well at Wickham – considered to be one of the toughest invitationals in New England – but coaches Rich Pesce and Marsha Caine didn’t seemed too concerned.

The Wickham courses are the site of the CIAC State championships October 28 and Saturday’s meet gave the Nighthawks a chance to get a feel of it.

“The weekend was an important experience for our team. Since five of the seven varsity runners have never been on the course before, it was important that we raced there before states,” Caine said of her 11-1 squad.

Out of 259 runners, Caine’s top seven were Erin Kostecki, who finished 40th overall in 17 minutes, 33 seconds, Angela Shannon (43rd, 17:36), Christine Manfredonia (100th, 17:36), Jessica Snow (120th, 18:44), Sarah Macknight (127th, 18:50), Melanie Murphy (176th, 19:23) and Jen Russell (192nd, 19:33).

Newtown finished 11th as a team in the seeded tournament. Tracy Ravetto was unable to run due to a band commitment.

Rich Pesce’s guys also used the Wickham course as a warmup for the state meet later this month. Jeff Heller finished 16th out of 275 runners, while David Rod was 51st. The Nighthawks are 10-2.

Both Newtown teams were scheduled to close out the season at Bethel Thursday afternoon with a meet against Masuk, Joel Barlow and Bethel. Next week’s South-West Conference (SWC) meet will also take place at the Bethel course.

“We are looking to run some pretty fast times there in the next two weeks. Our workouts will now focus on speed as we finish up the season,” Caine said.

At the SWC meet, both Newtown teams have the potential to finish among the top four or five teams, with the girls – barring injury – expected to fare a little bit better.

Pesce is hoping to get sophomore runner Chris DiNoto back by then, but the prospects for a return from a hip injury remain in doubt. Is a top 3-4 finish possible for Pesce’s club?

“With a little bit of luck . . .” Pesce said of his over-achieving team. “I thought at the beginning we would be capable of finishing in the top three, but there is a great deal of parity in the league. It is truly going to be an interesting conference meet.”

Mid- to late October is the peak of the cross country season and the NHS boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are priming themselves for the stretch run.