Newtown High School’s girls’ cross country team placed fifth in the state open, at Wickham Park in Manchester, on November 6. The Nighthawks’ five fastest finishers totaled a score of 180, as the Hawks edged sixth-place Pomperaug of Southbury (186). Tolland, with 97, easily won the meet; second-place Glastonbury had 131, Ridgefield had 152, and Staples of Westport had 171. There were 21 schools represented by the state’s top runners from all of the class sizes.

Sarah Mawdsley was Newtown’s top runner, placing tenth and completing the course in a time of 19:33. Staples runner Hannah Debalsi easily won the race, finishing in 18:08, as second-place finisher Katherine Deloreto of Tolland came across the line in 19:01.

For Newtown, Erin Tressler placed 13th in 19:41, Emma Bayuk was 26th in 20:18, Olivia Hage came in 38th in 20:45, and Madison Findley was 93rd in 22:07. Also running for Newtown were Kelsey Miller and Willow Pears, who placed 96th and 121st in 22:15 and 23:14. These placements are based on the 142 runners representing full teams in the competition. There were 181 total finishers as several schools were represented only by individual runners.