Newtown High School’s cross country teams raced against host Masuk of Monroe and Bethel on a warm October 3 afternoon. The course took runners on scenic trails around Wolfe Park’s Great Hollow Lake. This was a 3.24 mile course, slightly longer than a traditional 5K.

The girls defeated Masuk 18-45 and Bethel 17-45. Clara D’Amico was tops in the race with a time of 22:10 and followed by teammate Grace Lyons in second with a time of 22:15. Grace Chiriatti was fourth in 23:13, Britta Petersen sixth in 23:31, Annabelle Foley seventh in 23:33, Nadia Andrew eighth in 23:34, Jessica Zhang ninth in 23:35, and Kate Hugo 11th in 25:02.

Newtown’s boys beat Masuk 23-32 and Kolbe 20-43, and lost to Bethel 15-42. Soheib Dissa was Newtown’s top runner with a time of 16:40, Noah Masotta was next with a time of 17:11, followed by Andrew Arena in 17:55, Shawn Cardamone in 18:09, Stephen Sibley in 18:12, Adrian Totir in 18:20, Orion Lowery in 18:32, and Mitchell Greenhaw in 18:42.

The teams capped off the regular season on October 10 at New Milford High. The NHS girls beat Weston 17-38 and Notre Dame-Fairfield 15-50, and fell 21-34 to New Milford. Kiera Budge, D’Amico, and Lyons all came in with times of 19:32 and, based on fractions of a second, finished in fourth through sixth overall. Foley came in 11th in 21:35, Chiriatti was 13th in 21:37, Zhang 14th in 21:38, Petersen 15th in 21:39, and Andrew was 16th in 21:46.

In the boys’ race, Newtown defeated Notre Dame 15-48, and lost 28-27 to Weston and fell 17-38 to New Milford. Dissa was Newtown’s fastest finisher and sixth overall, with a time of 16:40, four seconds behind Weston’s Cameron Miles and a trio of New Milford finishers with times of 16:39. Masotta was seventh in 17:11, Arena 11th in 17:55, Stephen Sibley 13th in 18:12, Adrian Totir 15th in 18:20, Lowery was 18th in 18:32, and Greenhaw 19th in 18:42.

The Hawks will race in the October 18 South-West Conference Championships scheduled to take place at Bethel High.