By Kim J. Harmon

If someone were to sit down and write a list with all the accomplishments of the spring sports season at Newtown High School (such as the girls’ track team winning a South-West Conference title), it would be a pretty long list and far outweigh any list containing all the disappointments (such as the baseball team missing out on the CIAC state tournament by one game).

 

4A 97-50-1 overall record for all nine teams – which is a .655 winning percentage.

4An SWC title for the girls’ track team.

4Three individual titles for sophomore track star Alex Konneker.

4A second-place SWC finish for the golf team.

4Trips to the SWC championship game for the girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams.

Oh, there’s more. Read on:

Girls’ Track –

A 14-1 record in the regular season sure gave head coach Marsha Turek the feeling that the girls’ track and field team could capture a South-West Conference championship, but just last year the Lady Nighthawks finished 13-1-1 during the regular season and went on to finish 10th at the SWC meet.

Things were different in ’04.

The emergence of sophomore Alex Konneker certainly helped, as Konneker – a newcomer to track – captured the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes and anchored the led of the winning 4x100 team. But then there were the performances of Leah Herity (second in pole vault, fourth in 200 dash), Jacky Curran (third in triple jump), Jessica Cosgrove (third in discus with career-best toss), Kate Stickles (third in the 800 meters), Carolyn Brennan (fourth in the 3,200 meters), Julie Landin (fifth in the 400) and the rest of the 4x100 crew: sophomores Sadie Ball, Ciara Simek and Tara Gaston.

It was coach Turek’s second track and field championship and since only five of the team points scored at the SWC meet will be lost to graduation, the future of the Lady Nighthawks should remain awfully bright.

Girls’ Lacrosse –

It was supposed to be a rebuilding year and everybody knew it – from the coaches right down to the players. There were only a couple of legitimate scoring threats on the field (like Meg Regnery, Kelly Collier and Kate Fenton) and question marks all over the place.

Well, then, how did the Lady Nighthawks finish 12-5 and advance all the way to the South-West Conference championship game?

Simple – the emergence of players like Karli Beitel (34-12-46), Heidi Ekstrom (19-12-31) and Kim Solheim (12-10-22) on offense really took the pressure off Regnery (59-5-64), Collier (31-10-41) and Fenton (23-13-36). And on defense, Kerrie Canavan proved herself to be a tough goaltender who stood very tall in the cage.

And two of the youngest players on the team, sophomore Casey Frobey (7-11-18) and freshman Moira Collier (8-4-12), give promise to a program which is losing two of its top players (Kelly Collier and Fenton) to graduation.

Golf –

No one was probably more surprised – or pleased, for that matter – to see the golf team capture second place at the South-West Conference tournament than head coach Jen Huettner. Her goals had been modest entering the tournament, but the reward was tremendous.

“My goal was at least to beat all the teams that beat us this year,” she said at the time. “I was hoping to do just as well as we did last year – fourth. But this is awesome.”

The Nighthawks suffered through a somewhat inconsistent season, winning four of their first five and then losing three in a row with some pretty high scores. The ‘Hawks settled down, though, winning their last five meets and then putting it all together at the SWC tournament to overcome arch-rivals like Joel Barlow and Pomperaug.

Ron Shimko was a big addition to the team and he made it count at the SWCs, carding an 8-over 79 at Ridgewood Country Club. Steady play from Ben Moore (12-over 83, All-Colonial selection) and Andrew Fiscella helped carry the ‘Hawks while senior Joe DeFeo, juniors Jon Cain and Nick Moser, and sophomore Dave McLaughlin all contributed from time to time.

The ‘Hawks do lose their top three players, which will make coach Huettner’s job next year a challenging one.

Boys’ Track –

Coaches Ed Obloj and Dave Foss were as pumped as they had been in years with the prospect of sending more qualifiers to the South-West Conference championships than ever before … even while admitting New Milford and Pomperaug would simply be too tough to overcome.

The Nighthawks – who went 10-3-1 during the regular season – claimed a sixth-place finish at the SWC championships and did it with some pretty strong finishes.

Tim Carlisle finished first in the 300 intermediate hurdles (41.51) and took second in the 110 high hurdles (15.84); Matt Miller finished third in the pole vault (10-6); and Edmund Breitling finished fifth in the javelin (140-6). The 4x800 relay team finished third (8:31.19) and the 4x400 relay team finished fourth (3:37.67) to round out a strong season.

The ‘Hawks will lose quite a bit of talent – such as Breitling, Dan McIlrath, Carlisle, Adam Konneker, Matt Miller, Joe Sgammato and Phil Zencey – but a large and talented group of underclassmen should be able to carry the load in 2005.

Softball –

The softball team was within one out of its most impressive win in a whole lot of years when Kim Ovittore belted a three-run walk-off home run and lifted Lauralton Hall past Newtown. But that was the essence of the Lady Nighthawks in 2004 – always thrilling and always with the potential to pull something off.

The ‘Hawks had one of the best pitchers in the South-West Conference even though Lisa Morgan (12-8, 1.08 ERA, 180 K) was troubled with bumps and bruises for most of the year. Even if she wasn’t sharp – which she usually was – or had to give way to Mariale Renna (1-1, 1.54 ERA) the offense had a lot of merit.

Trina Ramsdell (.371, 3 doubles, 9 RBI), Christina Wolf (.355, 6 doubles, 1 homer, 18 RBI) and Megan LaFlamme (.356, 2 doubles, 15 RBI) were the three most potent hitters on the team, but players like Erin Murdoch (.232, 12 RBI), Stacey Gordon (.259, 12 RBI) and Ashley Ferris (.239, 1 homer, 13 RBI) could contribute when they needed to.

It was interesting that the ‘Hawks won their CIAC Class LL first-round state tournament game against a strong Naugatuck team and, thus, earned the right to play an undefeated Southington team which had not allowed a run all season long.

The ‘Hawks acquitted themselves well in a 3-0 loss to the Knights, as well as they acquitted themselves all season.

Baseball –

The cloud of defeatism that had been hanging over the Newtown High School baseball program for so long – growing its darkest over the last two seasons – cleared up and gave the Nighthawks a chance to see some sunny skies.

The ‘Hawks – a young team with only two seniors and five juniors – fell one game short of qualifying for the CIAC state tournament, so close it was simply a matter of a hit here or a hit there, a clean catch here or a clean throw there.

The fate of pitcher Matt Myslewski best defined the Nighthawks in ’04 – the senior co-captain pitched so well throughout the year, but still managed only a 3-6 record. When the ‘Hawks pitched, they often did not hit. And when they hit, they often did not pitch.

The players that made, perhaps, the biggest mark on the team were its youngest. Freshmen Ryan McGrath (.327, 5 doubles) and Mike Tibbetts (.328, 4 doubles), sophomores Pete Oggeri (.391, 2 doubles, 2 triples) and Steve Marks (.341, 5 doubles), and junior Nick Magoulas (.373, 4 doubles, 10 RBI) made a solid impact – Magoulas even more so for changing positions and becoming a force at first base.

And the electrifying debut of transfer Brennan Coakley (.471, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs in only 17 at-bats) has baseball fans really looking forward to 2005.

Girls’ Tennis –

An 11-match winning streak stretching from Thursday, April 15, through Thursday, May 13, put the girls’ tennis team front and center in the South-West Conference in 2004. But that is only the beginning.

The Lady Nighthawks finished 12-4 overall, qualified for the SWC team tournament, and did it largely on the strength of their underclassmen. While seniors Kim Allen (No. 1 doubles) and Brittany Meier (No. 1 singles) were steady all year, juniors Tara Ryan and Michelle Serock and sophomore Lauren Nemeth were almost unbeatable in singles while sophomores Emily Fields, Ashley Gabor, Jill Tanner and Sarah Salbu played so well in doubles. Fields and Gabor were a strong No. 2 doubles team, which turned some heads at the SWC tournament.

But it was Nemeth and Ryan who really stole the show in the post-season. Both girls advanced to the semi-finals of the SWC individual tournament and earned a spot on the All-SWC team. Although the ‘Hawks fell to Westhill in the qualifying round of the CIAC Class L state tournament, with the young players coming back with a lot of experience already under their belts the ‘Hawks will look to do even better in 2005.

Boys’ Lacrosse –

Even though it seemed as if the South-West Conference was kicking the boys’ lacrosse team when it was down (splitting up the league into Division I and Division II, then playing the Division I title game a day before the play-in game of the CIAC Division I state tournament), the Nighthawks nevertheless stood tall and nearly pulled off a miracle.

No one expected Newtown to challenge for the D-I championship against powerhouse Joel Barlow, but the ‘Hawks lost by just three goals in a sterling effort. The ‘Hawks finished 10-12 overall and while the season was, at times, kind of rough head coach Brian Micena found some new hope for the future.

While Kyle Kirch (42-13-55) and John Oliver (29-37-66) were the top two threats on the team, the emergence of sophomore Grant Speer (24-7-31), junior Jeff Bell (15-5-20) and sophomore Tyler Law (9-0-9) made some of the tough times a little easier to take.

The ‘Hawks will lose some of their top talent, though, with Kirch and Oliver leaving the offense and Devon Manfredonia and Chris Body leaving the defense. But strong, young players like sophomore Marc Ingerman will do their best to make the transition as easy as possible.

Boys’ Tennis –

Chris Martin drove up alone to finish a decisive, rain-delayed match in May against Dan Winkley of New Milford and after dropping the first set, 6-4, on a scorching afternoon he simply said to an inquisitive coach, “I can do it.”

Yes, Marty Margulies, head coach of the boys’ tennis team had a lot to be proud of in 2004, watching as his charges carved out a fine 10-4 record and only being eliminated from the South-West Conference team tournament on the final day of the regular season by Brookfield, but moments like the ones he shared with Martin and Jason Garbarino will stick with him.

In the first round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament, Garbarino gracefully conceded a call on what could have been a match-tipping point, but then went on to defeat Junaid Qureshi of Shelton 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5). In the second round, Garbarino was defeated 6-0, 6-0 by Sho Matsumoto of Greenwich, the eventual Class LL champion.

Garbarino had already earned himself a spot on the All-SWC team by reaching the quarterfinals of the SWC individual tournament.

“They gave me two of the most memorable moments of the year … and perhaps even of my coaching career,” said coach Margulies. “Both boys showed such tremendous character.”