Boys Running After Championship Qualification

By Anna Hodge

At its latest meet, held on May 9 at Brookfield High School, the Newtown High School boys’ track and field team defeated Immaculate High School 130 to 16, but was overtaken by Brookfield, 77-73

Despite the close loss, Newtown Coach Dan McIlrath believes the team is exactly where it needs to be.

“I’m not upset by any means because the success that this team is seeing is worth more than a win or a loss during regular season. We have some great things happening and I’m really excited to see how the season ends,” McIlrath said.

As the regular season is coming to an end, the team’s athletes have been making strides toward qualifying for the South-West Conference championship. According to McIlrath, Spencer Erhardt, a junior at NHS, made a one-week turnaround to qualify for SWCs in the pole vault event.

“We have Brandon Capaldo turning over two good races in the 100 and 200 [meter runs] to qualify him for SWCs. There are athletes who are on the fringe of qualifying as well,” McIlrath said.

Sophomore Mitchell Russo is three seconds away from qualifying for championships in the 3200 meter run; Junior Jordan Hensel is one second away from qualifying in the 3200; and John Hampford III is a tenth of a second from qualifying in the 300 meter hurdles.

“These particular athletes have made leaps and bounds in their events to come close to qualifying,” said McIlrath, emphasizing the performance of John Hampford. “At the beginning of the season, he was six seconds off from qualifying. That is a lot of time to cut down by the end of the season in the 300 meter hurdles. He’s another model of dedication, desire, and competitive attitude that Newtown track and field will be bringing to the table from now on.”

The team will compete against Bunnell and Stratford on Monday, May 16, at Bunnell High School at 4 pm in its final meet of the regular season.

The South-West Conference championships will be held the following Monday, May 23.