By Kim J. Harmon

BROOKFIELD – Talk about peaking.

After slipping to 3-3 on the season with two losses in a quad meet at Pomperaug, the young – and suddenly resurgent – Nighthawks have put together back-to-back sweeps to raise their blossoming record to 8-3.

“It was another outstanding day for our kids,” said assistant coach Carl Paternoster. “They are really coming together and peaking at the right time of year.”

Last Friday, the ‘Hawks swept past Notre Dame (97-53), Immaculate (120-28), and Bunnell (791/2  - 701/2 ). On Tuesday, the ‘Hawks swept past Brookfield (79-71) and Weston (108-42) with the aid of three wins from Vinny Nitopi and two from Jeff Heller (with a grand total of just 10 seconds over second combined).

And with the South-West Conference championship meet less than two weeks away, the ‘Hawks are indeed peaking at the right time.

In the win on Tuesday, Nitopi captured the shot put, discus and javelin while Heller took the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. Joe Blanchard (800 meters, at 2:09), Kyle Tobin (110 high hurdles, at 16.4), and Anthony Mentessana (long jump, at 18-111/4 ) were also individual winners. Newtown also grabbed the 4x100 relay race with a 46.7 mark.

The key for Newtown – since a win over Weston was almost a given – may have been the 400-meter race where Regan, Terrance and Balmforth went 1-2-3 in the head-to-head battle with Brookfield, helping lift the ‘Hawks to the eight-point win over the Bobcats.

The ‘Hawks have a number of athletes already qualified for the SWC_and CIAC_state meets.

Tobin has qualified for the SWCs in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and 200 meter dash. Heller has qualified in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs while Mentessana has qualified in the 100 meter dash and long jump. Nitopi, meanwhile, has reached in the shot put and discus.

The 4x100 (Mentessana, Ambrogio, Fullman, and Werbck), 4x400 (Blanchard, Regan, Fullman, and Tobin) and 4x800 (Blanchard, Bryant, Ignatius and Heller) relay teams are all in.

For states, Tobin has qualified in the 110 and 300 hurdles as well as the 200 meter dash. Nitopi has reached in the shot put and all three relay teams are going.

The ‘Hawks are peaking alright.

Newtown 79, Brookfield 71

Newtown 108, Weston 42

TRACK EVENTS

100 meter dash – 1. Porter (W) 11.9, 2. Lasser (B) 12.0, 3. Silver (W) 12.1, 4. Balmforth (N) 12.1.

200 meter dash – 1. Christos (B) 24.5, 2. Ambrogio (N) 24.5, 3. Mentessana (N) 24.6, 4. Lasser (B) 25.0, 5. Butcher (W) 25.9.

400 meters – 1. Craycraft (W) 49.9, 2. Regan (N) 55.0, 3. Squillante (W) 57.8, 4. Terrance (N) 59.0, 5. Micik (W) 1:00.

800 meters – 1. Blanchard (N) 2:09, 2. Harco (B) 2:11, 3. Ignatius (N) 2:11, 4. Atkinson (W) 2:13, 5. Bryant (N) 2:14.

1,600 meters – 1. Heller (N) 5:00, 2. Andrecotto (B) 5:01, 3. Ticehurst (B) 5:03, 4. Phillips (B) 5:07, 5. Mercer (B) 5:12.

3,200 meters – 1. Heller (N) 11:09, 2. Andrecotto (B) 11:18, 3. Phillips (B) 11:38, 4. Stiewing (N) 12:11, 5. Dinoto (N) 12:20.

110 high hurdles – 1. Tobin (N) 16.4, 2. Fellone (B) 16.5, 3. Christos (B) 18.8, 4. Garcia (N) 19.0, 5. Napoleone (N) 19.6.

300 intermediate hurdles – 1. Todd (B) 41.2, 2. Tobin (N) 41.6, 2. Fellone (N) 59.0, 3. Garcia (N) 46.8, 5. Napoleone (N) 47.1.

4x100 relay – 1. Newtown (Heller, Fullman, Mentessana, Lorentzen) 46.7, 2. Weston 47.6, 3. Brookfield 48.6.

4x400 relay – 1. Weston 3:37, 2. Newtown 3:38, 3. Brookfield 3:55.

4x800 relay – 1. Brookfield 8:53, 2. Newtown 9:00, Weston 10:00.

FIELD EVENTS

Pole vault – 1. Todd (B) 12-0, 2. Seeley (B) 10-0, 3. Loechiner (W) 9-6, 4. Butcher (W) 9-6, 5. Reich (W) 9-0.

High jump – 1. O’Connor (W) 6-4, 2. Schultz (B) 5-8, 3. McCarthy (B) 5-6, 4. Regan (N) 5-6, 5. Craycraft (W) 5-4.

Long jump – 1. Mentessana (N) 18-111/2 , 2. Christos (B) 18-31/2 , 3. Porter (W) 18-13/4 , 4. Schultz (B) 17-71/4 , 5. Ambrogio (N) 17-61/2 .

Triple jump – 1. O’Connor (W) 36-101/4 , 2. Schultz (B) 36-0, 3. Christos (B) 35-71/4 , 4. Clancy (N) 35-5, 5. Mentessana (N) 34-111/2 .

Shot put – 1. Nitopi (N) 43-1, 2. Emmerson (B) 38-7, 3. Ehrismann (W) 91-7, 4. Keyes (W) 34-9, 5. Maguire (N) 34-2.

Discus – 1. Nitopi (N) 115-7, 2. Ehrismann (W) 109-2, 3. Emmerson (B) 91-7, 4. Dudley (W) 89-0, 5. Ehrismann (W) 87-11.

Javelin – 1. Nitopi (N) 122-8, 2. Clancy (N) 118-7, 3. Gerow (B) 118-6, 4. Miller (N) 105-1, 5. Samuel (B) 100-4.