Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams both came away with a trio of wins in home races on September 17. Newtown’s runners came out on top against Bethel, Masuk of Monroe, and Notre Dame-Fairfield in a 5K race on the trails adjacent to Reed School.

In the girls’ competition, Newtown bested Masuk and ND each by 15-50 scores, and topped Bethel 25-32 to improve to 5-1 this season.

The Nighthawks were led by a one-two finish as Brianne Moulder and Hannah Schwartz claimed the top two spots. Newtown’s top five finishers are as follows: 1. Moulder, 20.26; 2. Schwartz, 20.49; 5. Kathryn D’Alessandro, 21:54; 8. Kelly Coughlin, 22:50; 9. Kiera Elkow, 22:56.

Other Nighthawks among the top 15 are: 10. Bridget Spores, 23:07; 11. Valerie Kadsheva, 23:11; 13. Sarah Mawdsley, 23:25; 15. Anna Pickney, 23:45.

The boys defeated Bethel 19-44, Masuk 21-40, and ND 15-50. Christopher Gamble earned his first career varsity win and Newtown had strong surges up the final hill from fourth- and fifth-place finishers Tom Floros and Ethan Burg. Nate Steinebrey had a gutsy performance while sick to earn seventh, and Joey Whelan rounded out the top five.

Newtown’s top five finishers are as follows: 1. Gamble, 17:37; 4. Floros, 18:02; 5. Burg, 18:03; 7. Steinebrey, 18:13; 8. Whelan, 18:29.

Newtown’s six through ten runners were all within 11 seconds of each other and cracked the top 15 overall as the Hawks had personal record times up and down the roster. Their results are as follows: 9. Grandon Smith, 18:41; 10. Nick Swenson, 18:43; 11. Kyle Mangold, 18:48; 12. Don Sun, 18:50; 14. Kevin Gorman, 18:52.