Defending Champ Falcons with an SWC Meet Sweep

On Tuesday October 11th , the Stratford Boys Cross Country team traveled to cross town high school Bunnell in the final South West Conference matchups of the regular season. The Red Devils went up against the Bulldogs, the Joel Barlow Falcons, and the Lancers of Notre Dame-Fairfield.

The Falcons came into Bunnell as the reigning 2021 SWC Champions and stand at 8 wins against 2 losses in 2022.

The 5K campus course, now in its third season of use, features many changing ground surfaces. Runners travel over a rubberized track, over to asphalt driveways, onto manicured grass fields, through fine oak tree thorough ways, and finally ending up back on the track to the finish line.
In addition, each runner endured two hills, first on the asphalt driveway known as Bulldog Lane, and on a second tour around the course, it takes you just off Bulldog Lane onto a steep grass hill back again to and around the former Pirhala’s Farm.
It was another great weather day for cross country racing. A bright sunshine from the western skies glowed down upon the campus preparing for a 6:17 pm setting with no wind, temperatures at 60 degrees, low humidity, and a low dew point setting the stage for perfect race conditions.
Prior to the race, Bunnell’s Assistant Principal and master of ceremonies, Mr. Frank Tatto, paid tribute to all seniors from each team as Bunnell held its annual tradition of “Senior Night”.
When the ceremony concluded, runners made their way to the two hundred meter line on the track where race starter and Bunnell Girls Coach Jim Stein called out the start and the race was underway.
Right from the sound of the horn it was Joel Barlow’s Matthias Galbin, Jackson Sobelman, and Stratford’s Amos Colocho “jack rabbit” out in front of the field of thirty-two. All three had the lead at times as the race went from the track onto Bulldog Blvd and up the hill.

Behind those three it was three others in the form of Stratford’s Ryan Munoz, Joel Barlow’s Ryan Schmid and Devin Tala.
Only a few seconds behind was Bunnell’s Alex Vaquerano.
Rounding out the top ten as mile one came to a conclusion was Joel Barlow’s Jackson Hrebin and Adam Bussolotta, with hard charging Notre Dame-Fairfield Lancer Brandon Bayusik making a bid to overtake both of them.
At the midway point Sobelman and Galbin separated from Colocho. Schmid and Tala were in spots four and five. Munoz was in sixth.
Vaquerano in seventh. Now in eighth and staying strong was Bayusik.
The ninth and tenth spots were between Hrebin and Bussolotta. That gave the Falcons the potential to have six in the top ten spots.
Down the stretch and heading to the finish line it was a nailbiter between Galbin and Sobelman. They were neck and neck with a hundred meters to go. At the line it was determined Galbin had the smallest of margins for first place at 16:17. In second place, also at 16:17 was Sobelman. In third place, with a new personal best, was Colocho at 16:39.
Schmid took fourth at 17:12. In fifth, Tala at 17:39.
In sixth place was Munoz, also with a personal best, at 18:03.
In seventh was Vaquerano at 18:17.
Bayusik stayed in eighth with an impressive mark of 19:00.
Sealing three victories on the day for the Falcons was Hrebin in ninth place at 19:06 and in tenth place was Bussolotta at 19:17.
In the all important team race between Bunnell and Stratford, after Colocho and Munoz took the first two places, it was Bunnell taking the next seven spots and the victory by a score of 25-36.
Stratford did show its pride with five personal bests of the season (Colocho and Munoz mentioned above) with Max Lilya coming in at 23:13, Kent Taylor at 24:17 and Papa Insaidoo at 30:51. Other Stratford finishers were Jace Taylor at 27:37, Matt Kleszczewski at 28:25, and Raiyan Khursu at 29:12.
Final scores on the afternoon were Joel Barlow 16 Bunnell 43, Joel Barlow 15 Notre Dame-Fairfield 50, Joel Barlow 19 Stratford 42, Bunnell 15 Notre Dame-Fairfield 50 and Stratford 15 Notre Dame-Fairfield 50. Final race times are listed with the photos.
Up next for Stratford, at Eisenhower Park in Milford, Ct., on Friday October 14th at 3:45 against the Jonathan Law Eagles, Platt Tech Tigers, and West Haven Blue Devils.