By Sherri Smith

The Newtown cross country team finished their conference season schedule with a  nearly unblemished 14-1 record, the only loss coming against New Milford.

The runners swept their final away meet, defeating Foran, 23-33, Notre Dame 15-46 and shut out Platt Tech, 15-50 at Eisenhower Park. It was a very nice way to end the season and head into the South West Conference championships.

The Nighthawk’s have had three runners - Chris Carolan, Joe Blanchard and Jeff Heller - holding top positions consistently, changing spots week to week, but always finishing in the front. The consistency continued at Eisenhower Park. Carolan took first place overall in the race with a time of 17:38, Heller ran second in 17:49 and Blanchard placed fourth overall, third for Newtown with a time of 17:54.

“Joe was right up front with Chris and Jeff leading the race,” said head coach Rich Pesce. “But he cramped up which slowed him down a bit.”

Running in the fourth position for the team was Ryan Ignatius. He placed seventh overall with a time of 18:46. David Rod ran ninth in 18:49; Stu Ratcliff placed 11th in 18:51; AJ Palmer ran 13th in 19:07; Micah Uhrlass placed 15th in 19:35; Brandon Kirch ran 16th in 19:40 and Andrew Lysaght ran 18th overall with a time of 20:00. Ryan Walker did not compete in the race.

“This was a good prep race for the SWC’s,” said Pesce. “Our bottom four of the varsity are working to move up and know they will be key in trying to win the championship. They will have to work hard to break up New Milford.”

The top seven runners will compete in the varsity race of the championships. Carolan, Blanchard, Heller, Walker, Ignatius, Rod and Ratcliff will be the seven chosen runners for the varsity. The race was held on Thursday, October 21st at Bethel High School. Results will appear in next week’s Newtown Bee.