Last year at this time, Justin Halmose ran his first 5K. And he won.

Fast forward 365 days (plus a week) and several races later, and Halmose again came out on top in the Run4Hunger 5K to benefit the FAITH Food Pantry, hosted by Knights of Columbus, St Virgilius Council 185, at Fairfield Hills. The second annual race took place on a chilly, low 50s but windy, May 11 morning.

The Newtown High School senior and 18-year-old running standout clocked in at 17:25.14, 20 seconds quicker than last year, and better than a minute faster than his closest competitor this spring, East Hampton's David Einsiedel, 23, who finished in 18:35.

"It feels good. I just wanted to run and have a good race today, especially with the hard wind. The wind was challenging, but it was definitely a lot of fun," Halmose said.

A year ago, Halmose had been recruited to join the NHS cross country and track and field teams by some of the Nighthawk runners, and has since laced up his running shoes for those teams to compile a nice race resume. A year ago, the Run4Hunger event was something completely new for Halmose. This time, it served more as a training day for spring track season, Halmose said.

Newtown/Sandy Hook had seven representatives among the top ten, including those who finished in third through seventh. Aidan Budge, 15, was third in 19:17.91. Philip Tisi, 37, was fourth in 19:19.92. Alex Wong, 18, and one of those runners who encouraged Halmose to pick up running, came in fifth in 19:39.84. Cody Gotthardt, 25, placed sixth in 20:22.93. Robert Katrinak, 55, was seventh in a time of 20:57.94.

Daniel Sutter, 38, of Fairfield, came in eighth in 21:08.02. Timothy Coady, 59, of Danbury, was ninth in 21:21.09. Jeff Capeci, 54, of Newtown, placed tenth in 21:32.91.

The top female was Newtown's Laura Wong, 17, who was 16th overall in 22:54.23.

"It feels really good. I also [set a personal record] by a lot today," said Laura Wong, a runner at Newtown High.

Newtown's Ethan McGinnis, 15, was 11th in 22:26.46. Danbury's Paul Almira, 31, was 12th in 22:26.57. Ridgefield's Tyler Sampson, 32, came in 13th in 22:37.32. Newtown's Matheus Costa, 36, was 14th in 22:42.84. Newtown's Anthony Manca, 49, was 15th in 22:47.99.

Rounding out the top 20 were Fairfield's Scott Campbell, 39, who completed the course in 23:19.67, Danbury's Pedro Ramirez, 58, who finished in 23:47.12, Newtown's A. Kwarcinski (first name not reported), 11, who finished in 24:52.99, and Newtown's Andy Hsu, 25, who came across the finish line in 25:12.85.

Note, the removal of one entry at placement 15 throws off the finish placement from that spot on.

Complete results may be found at the [naviga:u]Southern New England Athletic Association website[/naviga:u].