By Steve Bigham

E

arly on the season, Newtown High School boys’ cross country coach Richard Pesce has a lot more to deal with than just an inexperienced group of runners. Pesce is also suffering from a kidney stone condition.

The longtime coach was stricken early Monday morning and was unable to attend practice on Tuesday. It was a rare absence for the coach, who spent the early part of the week in bed. Despite the pain, Pesce managed to make his way to the high school Wednesday afternoon to continue his work in getting his squad in shape.

The stone will eventually pass.

The season, however, is a long road ahead.

But with two star runners gone from a year ago and only 17 runners out this season, Pesce will have to dig deep into his bag of tricks. A repeat of last year’s 17-1 record and third-place finish at the South West Conference meet will not be easy.

Gone from the 1999 squad are standout runners Joe Blanchard and Chris Carolan. Both runners led Newtown into last year’s SWC meet in Bethel intent on catching the “beast.” However, Blanchard never finished the race after suffering a season-ending leg injury. Carolan went on to finish seventh overall.

Glen Stiewing, who missed last season with an ankle injury, has also graduated.

This year’s roster is one of the smallest since Pesce took over the school’s cross-country program in 1984.

“It’s my smallest squad that I can remember in quite a few years. We’ve been running 25-30 runners on a solid basis year in and year out. Right now, we’re looking at about 17,” Pesce said. “I had the good fortune in years past – because of our numbers – of being able to move someone in if someone went down. If we stay healthy, we’ll be okay.”

The challenge, Mr Pesce said, will be instilling in his young runners the tradition of Newtown High School cross-country, which has been such a big part of his life.

The head coach will look to senior tri-captains Ryan Ignatius, AJ Palmer and Jeff Heller to form the foundation of this year’s club. All three performed well a year ago with Heller, an all-SWC selection, finishing eighth overall at the SWC meet, while Ignatius finished 34th.

The two remaining varsity spots will likely go to seniors Brandon Kirch and Dana Robinson, a pair of four-year runners looking to make the jump to the varsity level. Their continued progress will dictate how the season goes.

“I think they’ll have to contribute quite a bit. Last year they ran close to varsity times and I’ve seen a lot of improvement,” Pesce said.

Pesce also has his eye on sophomore runner Chris DiNoto, who returns after a promising freshman season. He too has a chance of cracking Newtown’s top five.

Junior David Rod, 38th at last year’s SWCs, will also compete for a top spot after a strong summer of training.

Rounding out this year’s list of runners are seniors Evan Graves and Steve Tomasciewicz, juniors Andrew Lysaght, Ryan Shanley, Michael English, James Delasala and newcomer Dan Maxwell. Sophomore Peter Terrence returns, while freshmen Benjamin Moore and Tyler Hull are new to the team.

DATE          OPPONENT                        TIME

Sept. 13           Immaculate, Brookfield                    4 pm

                        Jonathan Law

Sept. 16           Wilton Invitational

Sept. 20           Bunnell, Weston                             4 pm

                        Stratford

Sept. 23           Bethel Invitational                      9:15 am

Sept. 28           Notre Dame, New Milford                4 pm

                        Lauralton Hall

Oct. 3              Foran, Pomperaug                           4 pm

                        New Fairfield

Oct. 7              Wickham Invitational

Oct. 12            Masuk, Bethel                                 4 pm

                        Joel Barlow