By Steve Bigham

BETHEL – Coach Rich Pesce admits he figured his team had a chance to finish as high as third in the South-West Conference this year. Sure, he lost some good runners from a year ago, but there was enough talent to keep Newtown at – or near – the top.

But things don’t always go as planned and the Nighthawks struggled at last week’s league championship meet in Bethel, finishing sixth as a team. You would have to go all the way back to Pesce’s first year as coach in 1984 to find a finish as low as sixth.

New Milford was the overall winner with 69 points, followed by Bunnell (93 points), Immaculate (109), Bethel (116), Foran (136), Newtown (145), Pomperaug (169), Masuk (205), Joel Barlow (243), Brookfield (264), Stratford (290), Weston (323), New Fairfield (345), Notre Dame-Fairfield (350).

“It was a tough one. We didn’t run as well as I thought we could have for whatever reason,” Pesce said.

Newtown finished the season 11-3, but finished behind New Milford, Bethel, Immaculate, Bunnell and Foran at SWCs. The locals had beaten Foran and Bunnell during the regular season, but both put up some huge numbers, including a very surprising second-place finish from Bunnell.

Foran got a big lift from Ken Simeone, who finished first overall, covering the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 32 seconds. Bethel’s Tim Perry entered the race as the heavy favorite and was the leader down the stretch. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, Perry hit a wall just a quarter mile before the finish line and was unable to finish.

Pesce said a similar incident happened a few years back, when Newtown’s Eric Zolner entered the former Western Connecticut Conference race undefeated and heavily favored. Zolner was leading the race until he suddenly took a wrong turn on the Bethel course. He soon realized his mistake and doubled back, pushing twice as hard to make up for lost time. An exasperated Zolner was unable to finish the race.

Joe Mohn of Immaculate finished second in 16:34, while Bunnell’s Steve Malloy (17:00) and Ryan Pancoast (17:02) finished third and fourth. Newtown’s Jeff Heller crossed the line in fifth place overall in 17:10. The performance earned the senior all SWC honors.

Also finishing amongst the top 25 for Newtown were David Rod (20th, 18:21) and Ryan Ignatius (24th, 18:25). Both had hoped to finish a bit higher and were disappointed with their times. Newtown’s Brandon Kirch and Dana Robinson finished 47th and 49th overall.

Newtown will compete in the CIAC Class L meet Saturday at Wickham Park.