It was quite a showing by both of Newtown High School's track and field teams in the South-West Conference championships, at New Milford High, on May 23. The girls' squad won the championship and the boys came in third as a team.

The girls scored 148.50 points; runner-up New Milford had 122.50. On the boys' side, it was a closely-contested team battle with New Milford prevailing with a score of 109, Masuk narrowly edged for second with a score of 107, and Newtown scoring 102.

Carly Swierbut was first in the 100 meter dash, coming across the finish line in a time of 12.87, and won the 200 in 26.15. Makenna Cerney won the 300 hurdles in 46.50. Annika Alexander was tops in the discus event with a finals tally of 103-01.

Marley Marston placed second in the javelin with a throw of 99-10 and was second in the shot-put with a throw of 35-05. Lauren Russo cleared the pole vault bar at 11-06 for another runner-up finish, and Julia Cryder's 4-08 high jump was also good for second place. The 4x100 relay team of Brianna Lovely, Swierbut, Emma Curtis, and Katie Ryan was second in 51.05.

Newtown's 4x800 relay of Camille Johnson, Lauren King, Elizabeth Chiamec-Case, and Lu Hage came in third with a time of 10:09.03.

Cerney and Audrey Benson gave Newtown a four-five finish in the 100 hurdles with times of 16.98 and 17.49.

Curtis placed third in the 100 dash, sprinting to the end line in 13.35. Erin Tressler was fifth in the 800 in 2:26.28. Marston came in fourth in the discus with a throw of 85-03. Alexander was third in the shot-put with a throw of 35-02. Sarah Dowling placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15-04.50. Cerney came in fourth in the triple jump with a 32-11. Katie Ryan was fourth in the pole vault, clearing 9-0.

For the boys, Newtown's 4x800 relay team, in the first event of the afternoon, took the top spot as Ryan Escoda, Joel Duval, Dylan Bartlett, and Christian Lestik combined for a time of 8:13.13, chopping a whopping 12 seconds of their previous best time.

"It's a great start to the meet. It really set the tone for our team," said Becky Osborne, head coach of the NHS boys' squad.

Brett Deri won the 110 hurdles in a time of 15.82 and took first in the 300 hurdles in 41.01.

In the field events, the boys were led by Aiden Jasinski with the best overall effort in the pole vault, as he cleared 12-6, a full foot more than his nearest competitor, and Jack Godfrey, who won the shot-put with a throw of 50-08. Zach Crebbin cleared six feet to place second in the high jump.

Newtown's 4x100 relay of Kevin Arther, Cormac Roe, Adam Manes, and Thomas Shkreli was fourth in 44.91.

Shkreli came in fourth in the 100 dash with a time of 11.66.

Godfrey and Ryan Williams finished four-five in the discus event with finals scores of 128-09 and 125-01. Adam Manes was fifth in the long jump with a leap of 20-05.

In the pole vault, Dylan Bartlett and Dylan Lew placed third and fourth, each clearing 11-06.

Osborne and Rich Marcello, head coach of the girls, have been impressed with the hard work of both lineups this spring.

"It's been really fun to watch them come into their own as a team," Osborne said.

"They've worked really hard. I'm excited to see what they can do today," Marcello said early in the meet, before watching his Hawks run, jump, and throw their way to the top of heap.

When all was said and done, Marcello, who had coached at Weston during Weston's championship run, was thrilled with the outcome.

"All I can say is that this was truly a team win - scored in so many events. Had our ups and downs today but the girls picked each other up like a family. They just worked so hard all year and wanted this so bad. It hasn't really sunk in yet," he said.