BY Steve Bigham

The Newtown High girls’ cross country got a bit of bad news Tuesday when it learned that junior runner Tracy Ravetto would miss the rest of the season due to a leg injury.

Ravetto has been hampered by pain in her leg all season and has undergone both an MRI and an X-ray. Although the results remain inconclusive, the team’s number-two runner has been advised to rest. The loss of the talented runner forces the Nighthawks to reload as they eye the South_West Conference championship meet at Bethel next Thursday.

“It definitely raises our scores, but our number six runner is close,” noted head coach Marsha Caine.

The first-year coach is fortunate in that she has a long list of runners who have been able to step up at different times this season. Look for runners like Laura Howard, Shawna King, Jamie Crayne, Jessica Snow, Katherine Moberg, Monica Zigman, Emily Sheehan and Katie Sullivan to pick up the slack in Ravetto’s absence.

Meanwhile, Newtown competed in this past Saturday’s Wickham Invitational in East Hartford, the site of next month’s State Open meet. Competing against 300 other runners, junior Erin Kostecki finished 38th overall, tops for Newtown. “She beat last year’s time by a minute. She was very happy,” Caine said.

Kostecki is shooting to finish in the top 20 at the SWC meet and has the ability to cross the line among the top 10.

Newtown was slated to host Foran, Lauralton Hall and Notre Dame of Fairfield in a dual meet Thursday.