By Kim J. Harmon

BETHEL – While one team remained on top, another took a step closer to the top and it all added up to a pretty fine day for Newtown High School cross country.

The girls – who had a pair of narrow, one-point decisions during the regular season – captured their third consecutive South-West Conference championship last week while the boys captured their second consecutive runner-up finish while creeping up on New Milford and easily out-distancing Pomperaug.

Sadie Ball finished fifth overall for the girls (13-1 during the regular season) while Alister Ratcliff finished eighth overall for the boys (11-1 during the regular season) to lead the respective charge for their teams.

The girls slipped past New Fairfield by one point in the season opener and a week later lost a one-point decision to New Milford, but the race was hardly that tight at the SWC championships. At the same time, the boys were rarely challenged except by New Milford (eight wins were 15-50 sweeps) and that remained true last Thursday.

Yes, a pretty fine day for Newtown High School cross country.

Three In A Row

After losing four of its top seven runners from last year to graduation and having another unable to qualify for the 2004 SWC meet, the Lady Nighthawks looked to a new generation of runners to carry them to the championship.

Carolyn Brennan, Caitlyn Weber, Laura Reid and Leah Herity graduated last year and Caitlin Thursland was unable to participate this year and so the job of bringing home a third consecutive title was left to Sadie Ball, Moira Collier, Michelle Brennan, Elise DeRoo, Lindsay Weber and Kate Stickles.

They were more than up to the task.

Ball, a junior, led the way for the ‘Hawks by finishing fifth overall at 16:25.34 (just one second out of fourth place).

“The girls really stepped it up,” said first-year coach Doug Russell. “We set our goals pretty high even with five new runners. We didn’t worry about Kara Fisher (of New Milford) or Deanna Rodgers (of Bunnell) because we knew they were going to be out front. We knew we would have to look at the No. 2 girls and see how they did to see how we would win this meet.”

The second New Milford runner finished 11th overall and the second New Fairfield runner finished 14th overall, but by that time sophomores Michelle Brennan (9th place, 16:41.96) and Moira Collier (10th place, 16:43.58) had already crossed the finish line. Then with Elise DeRoo (12th place, 16:55.08) coming in soon after the ‘Hawks had the foundation they needed to win the championship.

“We were always optimistic,” said Ball. “We knew if we ran together as a team, we could do this. When we raced Joel Barlow (on October 12) we had never run better as a team. We knew New Milford had really improved and we knew we just had to pull through this together.”

With Stickles struggling a little bit on the tough Bethel High School course, Weber had the opportunity to contribute by finishing 31st overall for the ‘Hawks.

“It’s really amazing,” said Ball. “My friend said there’s more to life than winning the conference meet, but I don’t know. I wish I had been here as a freshman.”

With the CIAC Class LL state championships slated for Saturday, October 30, at Wickham Park in East Hartford with the CIAC State Open to follow on Friday, November 5, also at Wickham Park, the ‘Hawks are not finished.

“This isn’t the meet we wanted to peak at,” said Ball. “We want to peak at states and qualify for the State Opens as a team.”

And why not? The ‘Hawks are on a roll.

No Shame In Second

There was no doubt it would take a Herculean effort (and maybe some divine intervention) for the Newtown High School boys’ cross country team to overcome New Milford at the South-West Conference championships, so there could hardly be any shame in finishing second for the second year in a row.

A strong effort across the board, however, enabled the Nighthawks to inch a little closer to the Green Wave while, at the same time, widening the gap between the ‘Hawks and Panthers of Pomperaug. Alister Ratcliff finished eighth overall at 16:26.54 (just 24 seconds behind Dave Hunt of New Milford).

“We were looking to go out fast and see if we could break up some of their top three runners,” said Ratcliff. “Obviously, that didn’t happen.”

But with Charlie Baldour (11th place, 16:35.43), Jay Schunter (12th place, 16:42.55) and Eric MacKnight (13th place, 16:41.49) coming in as a pack and then Chris DeRoo (17th place, 16:57.96) and Peter Dittmar (18th place, 16:59.08) rounding out the top five Newtown finishers, coach Dave Foss was nevertheless very pleased.

“All we could do was be aggressive and we were,” said coach Foss. “Our times were smoking. The sophomore triple (Baldour, MacKnight, DeRoo) has really improved and it was tough seeing who would even run this race because each day these guys were jockeying for position.”

Scott Nichols finished 19th overall at 17:04.15, but did not figure into the meet scoring.

Like the girls, the boys will be at the CIAC Class LL state championships on Saturday, October 30, at Wickham Park in East Hartford and will be at the CIAC State Open on Friday, November 5, also at Wickham Park.

Boys

TEAM: 1. New Milford, 21; 2. Newtown, 61; 3. Pomperaug, 106; 4. Weston, 141; 5. Bethel, 155; 6. Immaculate, 161; 7. Brookfield, 217; 8. Joel Barlow, 221; 9. Masuk, 252; 10. Bunnell, 271; 11. New Fairfield, 283; 12. Notre Dame, 330; 13. Stratford, 388.

INDIVIDUALS: 1. Dave Hunt, NM, 16:02.40; 2. Nick DeCrescenzo, NM, 16:03.02; 3. Brian Colonnese, JB, 16:06.79; 4. Pat Viklund, NM, 16:21.47; 5. Anthony Vento, NM, 16:22.38; 6. Ted Varga, Pomperaug, 16:24.03; 7. John Loeser, Weston, 16:25.75; 8. Alister Ratcliff, Newtown, 16:26.54; 9. Anthony Socotch, NM, 16:28.47; 10. Jason Appleby, Masuk, 16:34.39; 11. Charlie Baldour, Newtown, 16:35.43; 12. Jay Schunter, Newtown, 16:42.55; 13. Eric MacKnight, Newtown, 16:41.49; 14. Mike DeCrescenzo, NM, 16:46.86; 15. Ryan Lane, Weston, 16:53.26; 16. John Reilly, NM, 16:54.54; 17. Chris DeRoo, Newtown, 16:57.96; 18. Peter Dittmar, Newtown, 16:59.08; 19. Scott Nichols, Newtown, 17:04.15; 20. D.J. Romano, Pomperaug, 17:15.05; 21. Paul Makai, Brookfield, 17:18.73; 22. Will Perry, Bethel, 17:19.35; 23. Tim Isselee, Bethel, 17:20.02; 24. Alex Archie, Pomperaug, 17:22.53; 25. Dennis Fitzgerald, Immaculate, 17:26.86.

Girls

TEAM: 1. Newtown, 67; 2. New Milford, 77; 3. New Fairfield, 89; 4. Pomperaug, 118; 5. Joel Barlow, 144; 6. Brookfield, 155; 7. Lauralton Hall, 163; 8. Weston, 241; 9. Immaculate, 243; 10. Bethel, 276; 11. Bunnell, 281; 12. Masuk, 295; 13. Notre Dame, 334; 14. Stratford, 444.

INDIVIDUALS: 1. Kara Fisher, NM, 15:51.49; 2. Deanna Rogers, Bunnell, 15:57.59; 3. Laura Simons, NF, 16:17.97; 4. Calla McNamara, JB, 16:24.37; 5. Sadie Ball, Newtown, 16:25.34; 6. Kasey Sullivan, Pomperaug, 16:29.00; 7. Rebecca McCollum, Masuk, 16:34.62; 8. Anna Griffin, Weston, 16:38.61; 9. Michelle Brennan, Newtown, 16:41.96; 10. Moira Collier, Newtown, 16:43.58; 11. Laura Hermann, NM, 16:44.96; 12. Elise DeRoo, Newtown, 16:55.08; 13. Jessica Collins, Brookfield, 17:09.16; 14. Karen Hillory, NF, 17:12.63; 15. Katie Baczeski, Pomperaug, 17:15.61; 16. Alyse Keller, NF, 17:20.70; 17. Kerry McKenna, Pomperaug, 17:21.27; 18. Morgan Fisher, NM, 17:22.09; 19. Ryan Donahue, LH, 17:23.11; 20. Dana Lehner, Bethel, 17:24.65; 21. Becca Martin, NM, 17:25.74; 22. Jenn Porricone, NF, 17:32.94; 23. Laurette Hamill, JB, 17:34.27; 24. Amanda Bump, LH, 17:36.08; 25. Rachel Lellis, Brookfield, 17:37.81.

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