Town High Schools Go Outdoors With Indoor teams

On Thursday March 11th, in what may have been the only track and field meet to take place in the State of Connecticut to date this year, the cross town high schools of Bunnell and Stratford got together to add to the storied history between these two teams in a scheduled fifteen event extravaganza at Bunnell’s newly renovated track.

Coming in, both teams were forced to make drastic changes in their daily training regimens due to Covid-19 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) mandated rules and regulations. Both teams are indoor teams who were tasked to go outdoors to showcase their special talents albeit weather permitting. Otherwise both teams were behind computer screens with in-place exercises only.

Also, with all the snow in the month of February, questions still remained as to whether the snow would melt in time for the afternoon’s tilt.

As if on cue the weather turned out to be the warmest day since November. Temperatures hovered around the 70 degree mark. An abundance of sunshine cleared the lanes in time for both teams to be at their best for this one.

Adding to the menu on the day, both schools decided this would be the day to honor their seniors in their final indoor (now outdoors today) race season.

Administrators and staff from both schools gathered to pay tribute in a spread out socially distanced celebratory moment led by master of ceremonies Assistant Principal Frank Tatto.

Stratford High School is seeing six move on while Bunnell has fourteen moving on from their indoor programs. Each athlete and their escorts were introduced with their career accomplishments, their future plans, and a customary walk down the track’s home stretch.

After a picture taking session and warmups, the track was set up for the intense competition that was to follow.

On the track the boys 4X200 meter relay started things off. The team of Guido Llanos, Matt Stewart, Jakub Olechno, and Jonathan Gulish of Bunnell finished first in a time of 1:42.2 seconds.

On the girls side, the well established over the years team of Ava Buckmir, Ashley Cortez, Elle Moshier, and Izzy Taccogna of Stratford took first place in a time of 152.7.

In the 800 meter race, Stratford’s Dominic Gomes cruised in at 2:16 earning a first place finish followed by teammate Amos Colocho. Bunnell’s Armand Fabrizi was third at 2:24.

While the 800 meter was taking place, over in the Long Jump competition Bunnell’s Michael Perry (19'-0") led all jumpers followed by teammate Matt Stewart at 18'-0.5". Stratford’s Zachery Rider was third at 15'-10".

The girls long jump saw a clean sweep for Bunnell with Karima Hamada 12’-6” leading the way, Gianna Myers second at 12’-5”, and Amaya Robles (10’-5”0) third.

Back on the track in the 55 High Hurdles, two experienced hurdlers locked in for a down to the finish line close finish. Stratford’s Jelani Warburton-Baker (9.4) just ahead of Bunnell’s Maurice Neri at 9.5 seconds.

The girls side saw Bunnell’s Alexis Aquilino (9.7 seconds) with a smooth run over Stratford’s Jules Taccogna (10.1) and Katrina Mahoney (11.6).

The 55 meter dash was next in an event that is notorious for too close to call finishes.

With prepared race officials at the finish line this would be the race day’s highlight reel with officials comparing stopwatches to determine the exact times.

The boys side saw three giving it their all with Stratford's’s Elijah Brown ruled in the top spot at 6.70 seconds, Bunnell’s Perry second at 7.10 seconds, and Matthew Stewart third at 7.13 seconds.

The girls side saw the same efforts with Stratford’s Buckmir given the nod in first place in 7.61 seconds, Bunnell’s Mia Noisette second at 7.63 seconds, and Stratford’s Moshier third at 7.67 seconds.

Bunnell’s Gulish and Huy Huong ran the 600 meter race with Gulish finishing first at 1:35 and Huang second at 1:53.

The 1000 meter event saw Bunnell’s Vincenzo Fabrizi in a 3:18 first place finish.

Three Bunnell girls led the field in the girls 1000 meter race, Jocelyn Ciotti was first at 3:47, Natalie Farrell second at 3:57.21, and in third Meghan Fenton 3:57. 35.

In the High Jump events, the Bunnell boys took first and second places. Jakub Olechno with a 4’-10” mark and Jaden Alicea with a 4’-8” mark.

Stratford’s Izzy Taccogna took first place in the girls high jump with a mark of 4’-6” and Bunnell’s Giana Myers second with a jump of 4’-0”.

Up next on the track was the 1600 meter race. Stratford’s Gomes (5:22) and Amos Colocho (5:43) led the charge with first and second place finishes. Bunnell’s Dominic Puzzo was third at 6:02.
For the girls in the 1600 meter race, Bunnell took the first three spots with Mia DiPronio in first at 6:28, Ciotti second at 7:07, and Paige Jockers third at 7:10.

Back over to the Shot Put event on the boys side, Bunnell’s Llanos led all boys with a 29’-4” mark, Stratford’s Warburton-Baker second with a mark of 27’-0”, and Bunnell’s Armand Fabrizi third at 26’-8”.

The girls throwers saw Stratford's Jules Taccogna lead all throwers with a 26'-5" launch, teammate Jenna Sargent second at 22'-2", and Bunnell's Molisha Belony third at 21'-3".

In the boys and girls Sprint, Medley, Relay race both of Bunnell’s entries took first place.

The boys team of Jaden Alicea, Michael Perry, Huong, and Mario Oliva combined for a 5:01 finish.

The girls team of Noisette, Myers, Aquilino, and DiPronio had a mark of 5:30.

Bunnell went on to capture the Pole Vault event with Puzzo, for the boys, with a 6’-6” mark and a top spot finish.

Aquilino led all girls with a 6’-6” mark, followed by Amyra Bernadel at 6’-0”, and Meghan Fenton at 5’-0”.

In the 300 meter boys race Bunnell took the first three spots led by Gulish at 38.0 seconds, in second was Stewart at 40.0, and Llanos third at 42.0.

In the girls 300 meter race, Stratford’s Jaylan Evans was first at 49.7 seconds, followed by Bunnell’s Amyra Bernadel at 50.0, and Stratford’s Niyah Lewis third at 51.4.

The 3200 meter race saw Bunnell sweep again in the boys race with Oliva first at 10:59, second was Vincenzo Fabrizi 13:04, and third was Puzzo at 14:11.

In the girls 3200 meter event, Dipronio was first at 14:42 and Meghan Fenton was second at 16:07.

The final event on this historic day was the 4X400 meter relay race.

The Bunnell boys combination of Huong, Llanos, Gulish, and Neri had a top spot of 4:19 finish.

The Bunnell girls team of Noisette, Ciotti, Izabella Quintanila, and Bernadel had a 5:13 first place finish.

Final scores on the afternoon saw Bunnell boys over Stratford by a score of 85-27.
Bunnell girls 69 Stratford 34.