Future Looks Bright As Girls Finish Sixth In SWC Meet

By Andy Hutchison

BETHEL — With an eye on the future, Coach Doug Russell is more than pleased with the present. His Newtown High School girls’ cross country team, led by the emergence of several underclassmen — including two freshmen — earned sixth place at the South-West Conference championships at Bethel High on October 18.

Newtown’s top five runners, whose placements counted toward the team’s finish, added up to a score of 131. Pomperaug of Southbury, with 62, took first place. NHS was led by 12th-place finisher Brianne Moulder, who came across the finish line of the 3.1-mile scenic course in a time of 20:52.08, and 14th-place runner Hannah Schwartz (21:01.46).

“Our whole team did really well today,” said Moulder, who earned All SWC First Team honors for her top-12 performance.

Immaculate of Danbury settled for second with 66 points despite a one-two finish led by race winner Maggie Christie, who finished in 19:46.81. The girls’ competition featured 13 teams and 92 participants. Newtown actually tied Bethel in points, but was edged out for a top-five finish based on the result of the respective teams’ sixth-place finishers.

Rounding out Newtown’s top five were senior Talia Fappiano, who was 28th in 21:51.85, Laura Hornby, who was 37th in 22:27.82, and Sarah Mawdsley, who was 43rd in a time of 22:39.84. Each of those runners’ points were one lower than their placements because a Stratford runner, Quincy Cayton, finished ahead of them, in 23rd place, but her result did not effect the point totals since Stratford didn’t have enough runners to compete as a team. Newtown’s other two runners to participate in the conference title meet were Emily Peters, 52nd in 22:53.94 and Julia Faxon, 59th in 22:36.37.

Moulder, a junior, noted that the course certainly was not an easy one. It features a long incline affectionately known as “The Beast.”

“The Beast definitely is a beast,” Moulder acknowledged.

The Nighthawks are hoping to become a beast, of sorts, in the conference in years to come.  Shwartz is only a sophomore, and Hornby and Mawdsley are both first-year high schoolers. Newtown’s junior varsity squad also gives plenty of optimism for the future. The JV squad won its SWC championship meet, led by top overall finisher Kathryn D’Allessandro.

“That’s awesome when you’ve got kids that young that are already performing at that level,” Russell said. “We worked really hard today and we beat some people that beat us during the regular season — individuals and teams. So I’m very pleased with the outcome of today and … the future is very bright.”