Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams ran away with victories in their lone home meet, and final regular season in-conference competition, on the Fairfield Hills trails adjacent to Reed Intermediate School on October 7.

The girls posted an 18-43 win over Immaculate of Danbury, a 17-46 triumph over Bunnell of Stratford, and a 15-50 victory over Notre Dame-Fairfield. The boys, in similar fashion, toppled Immaculate 15-49, Bunnell 19-42, and Notre Dame 15-50.

Both teams had one-two finishes, and several runners among the top ten — the girls with six and the boys with seven.

Erin Tressler led the pack on the 5K course in a time of 20:00 and teammate Sarah Mawdsley was second in 20:10. Maddie Findley came in fourth in a time of 21:41, Camille Johnson placed sixth in 22:25, Hannah Schwartz was seventh in 22:28, and Kelsey Miller came in tenth in 23:19. Newtown’s No. 7 runner in the meet was Sarah Lyon who placed 11th in 23:22. Newtown showed its depth with another 14 finishers among the top 25.

“We’re running well right now. Our top five girls are just running extremely well,” Coach Doug Russell said. The top five usually includes Emma Bayuk, who was absent for this meet.

Kyle Mangold was the fastest finisher in the boys’ race, coming across the line in a time of 17:25. Teammate David Csordas was second in 17:45. Joel Duval placed fourth in 17:50, Ethan Burg came in fifth in 17:54, Christian Lestik was seventh in 18:14, Brenden Reeds came in eighth in 18:16, and Joshua Bent placed tenth in a time of 18:20. Newtown had another seven finishers among the top 20.

“The guys looked really good today — fast times, I think guys were really clicking. I’m hoping it’s momentum for the SWCs,” said Dave Foss, coach of the boys.

The girls capped off the campaign with a record of 11-2 and the boys finished 10-3. The Nighthawk harriers will race in the Wickham Park Invitational on Saturday, October 11, as they tune up for the October 16 South-West Conference championships in Bethel.

“I’m feeling good about how competitive we’re going to be at SWCs,” said Russell, whose team lost by nine points to Pomperaug of Southbury and eight points to New Fairfield in regular-season action.

The team to beat in the boys’ championship race is New Milford, Foss notes. Although his squad lost three times, the coach knows a second-place finish is potentially for the taking. After all, his Hawks fell by just one point to Weston and two points to Pomperaug. “I like our chances,” Foss said of the potential for a runner-up finish.

The girls will race at 3:30 pm, with the boys to follow at 4 pm in the SWC meet at Bethel High School.  After the SWC championships, the teams will race in the October 25 Class LL state championships at Wickham Park.