Bunnell Boys Track and Field Victorious in Season Opener

On Monday April 19th, the Bunnell Bulldogs Boys Track and Field team hosted the Immaculate Mustangs in a 2021 season opener for both high school squads. The meet featured eighteen events with athletes competing in how fast they can run, jump, vault, and throw an implement.

On a partly sunny afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 50’s, and no wind the Bunnell Bulldogs used a combination of veterans and first year talents to overwhelm the Mustangs by capturing fourteen out of eighteen first place finishes.

Starting the day off for Bunnell was the 4X800 Relay team of Senior Vincenzo Fabrizi, Senior Huy Huong, Sophomore Dominick Puzzo, and Senior Armand Fabrizi. The Fabrizi’s opened the race up and closed the race out as Vincenzo was able to open up distance on the Immaculate team of Hunter Brown, Benjamin Gasparrini, Jesse Hanniger, and Nick Paris. When Puzzo handed off the baton to Armand, in the last leg, the Bunnell team had a twenty second lead holding that margin by finishing in a time of 10:09.

The Bunnell team of Jonathan Gulish (Senior), (Senior) Maurice Neri, (Senior) Guido Llanos, and Freshman Matthew Stewart took first place in the 4X100 with a time of 49:40.

Neri went on to take first place as well in the 110 High Hurdle event with a time of 19.30 seconds.

Gulish garnered first place honors in the 100 meter dash followed by Stewart with times of 11.4 seconds and 11.47 seconds respectively. Immaculate’s John Gibowicz was third at 12.3 seconds.

In the 1600 meter race saw a clean sweep for the Bulldogs led by Senior Mario Oliva with a 4:59 finish. V. Fabrizi in second at 5:36. A hard charging Puzzo overtook Immaculate’s Paris in the final moments and claimed third place with a 5:41 finish.

Meanwhile in the Javalin event, Bunnell’s Jakub Olechno, a Junior, topped all with a toss of 104’-6”. Immaculate’s Walter Brady was second at 85’-6”. A. Fabrizi third at 82’-10”.

In the Long Jump event, Immaculate’s Billy Murphy took first place with a leap of 19’-0”. Bunnell Freshman Mikail Francis was second at 15’-6”. Olechno took third at 15’-4”.

In the High Jump, Immaculate’s Thai Sapanter led all with a jump of 5’-8”. Bunnell’s Stewart was second at 5’-4”. Olechno was third at 5’-0”.

Back on the track in the 400 meter dash, Gulish easily took first place with a finish of 52.5 seconds. Immaculate’s Brady was second at 55.0 seconds. Third was Immaculate’s Peyton McKenzie at 56.7 seconds.

Bunnell’s Neri and Francis took first and second in the 300 meter hurdle race. Neri at 51.6 seconds and Francis at 52.6 seconds.

In the 800 meter race Bunnell earned their second sweep of the afternoon as A. Fabrizi was first at 2:37. Second place went to Senior Ryan Ortega at 2:46. Third was Freshman Baerman Alfreh at 3:03.

In the 200 meter race Bunnell’s Gulish and Stewart battled it out from start to finish trading strides until the end with Gulish taking first at 23.1 seconds, Stewart second at 23.7 seconds. Immaculate’s Murphy took third at 23.8 seconds.

The 3200 meter race saw another Bunnell sweep with Oliva riding the crest of momentum in dominating fashion with a time of 10:59. Vinny Fabrizi was second at 12:42. Once again Bunnell’s Puzzo and Immaculate’s Paris saw each other down the stretch with Puzzo overtaking Paris in the final 50 meters in a strong finish with a time of 12:45.

While the 3200 meter race was taking place the field events were winding down as Alfreh won the Shot Put competition with a throw of 21’-4”. Bunnell Freshman Gio Jeanty was second at 20’6.5”.

In the Discus event Bunnell’s Llanos finished first at 74’-10”. Immaculate’s William Tucker was second with a toss of 43’5”. Third was Alfreh at 42’-1”.

In the Pole Vault, Puzzo and Ortega earned marks of 7’.

The meets final event of the day was the 4X400 relay. Immaculate’s Murphy, Matthew Reeves, McKenzie, and Brady outlasted the team of Llanos, A. Fabrizi, Ortega, and Freshman Bolelembe Iboki with a time of 3:46, Bunnell’s time was 4:16.

Final score on the afternoon Bunnell 111, Immaculate 30.

Up next for Bunnell, Thursday April 22nd at Masuk’s Edmund Butler track to take on the Panthers.