By Kim J. Harmon

W

ith the graduation of star sprinter Janelle Tracy (four-time South-West Conference 55-meter dash champion) and Laurie Miller (two-time South-West Conference long jump champion), it seems that a new era of indoor track has begun at Newtown High School.

In the four years that Tracy and Miller took to the winter track, the Nighthawks have captured three SWC team championships – three in a row, actually, with the string being broken last season when the ‘Hawks finished fourth.

So the ‘Hawks are looking for someone else to carry the torch and the burden of that will fall to some of the athletes who performed so well last year – athletes such as Laura Howard, Lauren Blomberg, Whitney Blanchard, Cara Delvecchio, Cassi Bagaglio and Jaime Lindquist.

Howard is the only senior.

“We’re putting a serious edge to the program this year,” said coach Carl Strait, who will handle the chores along with Marsha Caine. The two take over for Dave Foss. “The kids are working hard. This is a great group, too, because they are the kids who are most dedicated.”

Early tryouts brought out close to 50 athletes for the teams (girls and boys), but that number has since been whittled down to about 34 – 15 for the girls and 19 for the boys.

Coaches Strait and Caine will also look towards juniors Melanie Murphy, Naomi Kim, and Amy Brackman to lead the younger athletes like sophomore Sarah Macknight and freshmen Katie Lahey, Jayme Crane, Amanda Bloom, Katie Fuller and Carolyn Brennan.

Erin Kostecki, a standout cross country runner, opted not to run this winter to pursue other commitments.

The boys will be led by a strong senior class – with Blair Balmforth, Dave Zuluga, Jim Miller, Paul Dolzall, Dave Strong, Tom Fullman, Steve Ambrogio, Tony Napoleone, and Frederico Alorsi providing the leadership. The juniors are James Dellasalla, Dan Maxwell, Mark Huot, Andrew Lysaght, Dan Phillips, Ryan Shanley and Dan Parks. The sophomores are Peter Terrance and Mike Taylor and the only freshman is Matt Schierloh.

Many of the athletes have had success in spring track and that’s where some of the focus will be this winter as the ‘Hawks take to a relatively short schedule (five meets).

“We’re going to try and get these kids to work hard and train hard so they can be competitive in the spring, too,” said coach Strait.

The ‘Hawks will open the season at the annual Reindeer Relays on Saturday, December 16th, at Wilton High School.

Schedule

December 16th, at Reindeer Relays (Wilton_High School) or Yale Developmental; 30th, at Yale Developmental.

January 6th, at South-West Conference Developmental (Staples High School), 4 pm; 27th, at South-West Conference championship meet (Staples High School), 4 pm.

February 16th, at CIAC_Class L state meet (Yale University), 6:30 pm.