By Kim J. Harmon

MONROE – Dominating.

It was as simple as that, as the Newtown High School girls’ cross country team cruised in its 2001 season-opening meet with a sweep of Masuk, New Fairfield and Immaculate last Wednesday at Masuk High School in Monroe.

The top 10 finishers read like a primer on the Newtown High School roster, with eight of those top 10 runners wearing a Nighthawks jersey. Melanie Murphy finished first overall at 19:28, just three seconds ahead of Christina Anduk of New Fairfield.

Angela Shannon, who started out hot and led through a fair portion of the race, came in third at 19:36. Then came Jen Russell in fourth (19:45), Christina Manfredonia in fifth (19:56), Sarah Macknight in sixth (19:58), Laura Reid in seventh (20:08), Carolyn Brennan in eighth (20:20) and Caitlin Weber in 10th (20:43).

Angela Ramos of New Fairfield broke up the string of Newtown runners when she took ninth at 20:41.

The Nighthawks basically shut out Masuk and Immaculate, 15-50, and eased past New Fairfield, 19-44.

Megan Ignatius (11th, 20:56), Jayme Crane (14th, 22:01), Monica Zigman (16th, 20:29), Monica Cluff (17th, 22:36), and Nikki Snow (18th, 22:38) rounded out Newtown finishers in the top 20. Erin Dennen followed in 27th at 23:27 while captain Whitney Blanchard came in 28th at 24:18.

The Nighthawks will be at the Bethel Invitational on Saturday (a 9:15 am start) and then will return to the South-West Conference schedule to improve on their 3-0 start with a home meet against Foran, Pomperaug and Brookfield.

Clean Sweep For Boys

With five runners finished in the top 10 – and 10 in the top 20 – the 2001 season-opening meet for the Newtown High School boys’ cross country team did not prove to be that much of a challenge.

The Nighthawks defeated Immaculate (23-38), New Fairfield (20-41) and Masuk (17-46) to start a confident 3-0.

While Joe Mohan of Immaculate was the class of the field last Wednesday, taking first on the tough, 3.1-mile track at 18:13, David Rod (18:32) and Dan Maxwell (18:44) finished a close second and third to get the ‘Hawks started.

Then came Dan Phillips in sixth (19:06), Chris DiNoto in ninth (19:38) and Tyler Hull in 10th (20:00).

Last year the Nighthawks had taken some lumps because of the relatively small size of the team. But with the return of some talented runners, and the bolstering of their roster, the ‘Hawks showed they were ready to improve on their 2000 season.

Andrew Lysaght finished 11th overall (20:04) while Chris Giacolone in 12th (20:09), Dave Millar in 13th (20:11), Ryan Shandley in 15th (20:31), and Peter Terrance in 20th (20:51) rounded out a strong field for Newtown.

The ‘Hawks used the impetus from the season-opening sweep to finish sixth overall last weekend at the annual Wilton Invitational. Danbury easily cruised to the invitational title with 29 points while Guilford, Ridgefield, and Fairfield lumbered behind in second, third and fourth.

Newtown – with 193 points – finished behind Shelton, but ahead of Fairfield Prep, Trumbull, Greenwich and Hamden.

Steve Mucchetti of Ridgefield and Alex Bloom of Guilford finished in a virtual dead-heat for first at 14:41.

Rod was the Nighthawks’ top finisher, taking 13th overall at 15:59. Maxwell (31st, 16:43), Phillips (38th, 17:19), DiNoto (55th, 17:57), Hull (56th, 17:58), Lysaght (65th, 18:35) and Giacolone (66th, 18:40) followed.

Only the top five runners scored.

The ‘Hawks will be at the Bethel Invitational on Saturday (9:15 am start) and then will return to the South-West Conference schedule next Tuesday for a home meet with Foran, Pomperaug and Brookfield. The start of that competition is set for 4 pm.