Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams participated in the Class LL state championship meet at Wickham Park in Manchester on October 25. The girls placed sixth as a team and the boys were 12th.

Glastonbury, with a meet-low 56 points, won the girls' competition; Newtown had 220 points. There were 21 Class LL teams and 146 finishers in the meet.

The Nighthawks had two finishers in the top ten as Sarah Mawdsley came in sixth in a time of 19:56 and Erin Tressler placed ninth in 20:30. The top overall finisher was Staples of Westport runner Hannah Debalsi who completed the course in 18:14.

Newtown’s Emma Bayuk was 33rd in 21:31, Camille Johnson was 85th in 23:07, Kelsey Miller was 87th in 23:08, and Hannah Schwartz came in 95th with a time of 23:18.

Amity of Woodbridge, with 90 points, won the boys’ competition. There were 22 schools and 166 finishers. Newtown’s boys’ squad had 358 points, The team was led by Kyle Mangold who came in 34th in 17:20. Christopher Gamble placed 72nd in 17:55, David Csordas was 78th in 18:00, Joel Duval came in 82nd in 18:08, Brenden Reeds was 92nd with a time of 18:16, Christian Lestik was 110th in 18:41, and Ethan Burg placed 111th in 18:42.

The Nighthawk girls qualified for the October 31 State Open meet, also at Wickham Park, as a team, and Mawdsley earned All State recognition for her sixth-place finish. Mangold qualified for the State Open to represent his team.