By Steve Bigham

BETHEL – The Newtown High School cross-country teams closed out the regular season October 12 with strong performances at Bethel and then spent the early part of this week preparing for the South-West Conference championship – which was slated for Thursday afternoon in Bethel.

The boys managed to take two out of three at Bethel, beating Masuk and Joel Barlow and falling to Bethel.

“We were pleased, but we were disappointed that we were not able to stay closer to Bethel,” Coach Rich Pesce noted. “We had run against Barlow before during the preseason so we knew what we would get there, so our focus was really on Bethel. Our top three runners were there at the end, but the problem continues to be our 4-5 runners in terms of getting them closer to our top three.”

Newtown – which finished the regular season 11-3 – had similar trouble against New Milford earlier in the season and that is one reason why the Nighthawks were a long shot to take the league crown.

“What we ran into with Bethel was exactly what we ran into at New Milford. They were able to get seven runners in before we got our fourth in. That happened again last week. So we’re at a disadvantage there,” Pesce said.

At Bethel, Tim Perry of Bethel, considered to be one of the finest runners in New England, ran away from the pack to win in 16 minutes, 18 seconds. He was favored to win the league title along with Immaculate’s Joe Mohn.

Newtown’s Jeff Heller finished second overall last week, crossing the line in 17:24. Devin Knickerbocker and Ken Hochsprung, both of Bethel, finished third and fourth, Masuk’s Marls John was fifth and David Rod of Newtown finished sixth in 18:34. Jeff Atkinson of Joel Barlow was seventh, followed by Newtown’s Ryan Ignatius, who covered the course in 18:44. Brandon Kirch finished 13th overall in 19:09.

Dana Robinson rounded out Newtown’s top five with a 16th-place finish in 19:18. Dan Maxwell finished 20th in 19:39.

Pesce was hoping to avoid a repeat of last season’s SWC disappointment when Joe Blanchard went down with an injury midway through the race. A reversal of fortune this year could put Newtown near the top.

“A lot of it has to do with luck. At the beginning of the season, we all made predictions, I projected we could finish in the top three. We lost to New Milford, Bethel and Immaculate (by one point). I see us being in the top three. I would hope we would be able to do that,” Pesce said.

Girls Finish 13-3

The NHS girls’ cross-country team suffered two of its three losses on the final day of the regular season October 12 at Bethel’s 2.4-mile course, falling to league powerhouses Bethel and Joel Barlow. The Nighthawks did, however, beat Masuk.

Erin Dobson finished first overall in 15:59 to lead Bethel, which swept the meet. Angela Shannon finished seventh overall and first for Newtown in 17:22. It was her first win of the season, holding down the fort for Newtown’s usual first-place runner Erin Kostecki, who was ninth overall in 17:33.

The Nighthawks also received strong performances from the ever-improving Sarah McKnight (18:26) and Jen Russell 18:27), who finished 19th and 20th, respectively.

Tracy Ravetto did not race, but was expected to run in this week’s SWC meet.