Lady Bulldogs Winning Streak Continues against Stratford

In South West Conference Track and field action this past Tuesday May 2nd, at Bunnell High School, it was the Bunnell Bulldog Girls Track and Field team extending their winning streak over the Stratford Red Devils to at least thirty-seven, winning by a score of 114 to 35. The scoring goes five points for a first place finish, three points for a second place finish, and one point for a third place finish. Team Relay events score five points to the winner with no points for second place.

Under the coaching prowess of Ken Poisson the Bunnell girls team has never lost to Stratford. He’s been at the helm for the past thirty-seven seasons.

In tallying 114 points Bunnell was able to finish in first place in fourteen of the eighteen events. In fact they swept seven, first, second, and third place finishes in the fifteen individual events and two out three first places in the relay events.

A lot of the credit goes to Senior Samatha Coimin. The Southern Connecticut State University bound athlete took first place in all four of her events. She led the way in the Long Jump event with a leap of 15’-7.75 inches. In the Triple Jump Event she landed a distance of 32’-5.5 inches.

In the meet’s closest and loudest finish Coimin displayed her speed on the track racing to a 49.4 second time in the 300 Low Hurdle Event. She just finished ahead of Stratford’s 2022 All SWC Hurdler Estella Feenstra (49.5) by one-hundredth of a second.

Coimin rounded out her day with a first place finish in the High Jump event with a 4’-6” launch.

By rule, in the SWC, each athlete can participate in up to four events.

This afternoon featured partly sunny skies, temperatures in the low 50's, the occasional chilly breeze out of the west, and the usual boisterous crosstown crowds supporting their respective schools in attendance. The track conditions were dry, fast, and ideal.

The first event of the afternoon was the 4X800 Relay Race. The Bunnell team of Jocelyn Ciotti, Mia Skartsiaris, Marissa DiPronio, and Lily Farrell led from start to finish with a time of 14:28.

Stratford was able to tie the score at five in the 4X100 Relay Race Event as the team of Jaylen Evans, Feenstra, Niyah Lewis, and Uconn bound Ashley Cortez beat out the Bunnell team of Briana Cole, Kendall, Dolan, Lilly Gill, and Carina Rivera with a time of 52.4 seconds to 53.2 seconds.

In the 100 Meter High Hurdle Event Bunnell took the first two spots as Emery Janicki was first at 19.0 seconds, Autumn Wiles was second at 20.0 seconds, and Stratford’s Grace Miron-Domingez was third at 20.6 seconds.

In the 100 Meter Dash Event it was Stratford’s Cortez in first at 12.9 seconds, she edged out Bunnell’s Rivera (13.2), and Bunnell’s Cole was third at 14.0 seconds.

Over in the field events, as previously mentioned, in the Long Jump Event Coimin was first, followed by Stratford’s Angelina Taccogna at 14’-9.50 inches, and Bunnell’s Gill third with a distance of 13’-7.5 inches.

The first Bunnell sweep of the day was in the Javelin Event. Kayla Johnson’s 68’-2” was first, followed by Autumn Gonzi’s throw of 52’-10 inches, in third place was Alyssa Sanchez at 51’-11 inches.

Back on the track, in the 1600 Meter Race, Bunnell Senior Paige Jockers led the way with a time of 6:11. In second place was Stratford’s Teagen McCaughey at 6:20. In third place was Bunnell’s DiPronio at 6:33.

In the 400 Meter Race it was Stratford’s Evans holding off a hard charging Cole (65.8) for first place in a time of 64.2 seconds. In third place was Stratford’s Lewis at 66.9 seconds.

The 300 Meter Low Hurdle event, Coimin and Feenstra took first and second respectively, with Bunnell’s Wiles third at 56.9 seconds.

Bunnell’s second sweep of the day was over on the Pole Vault Event as Janicki climbed up to a 7’-0” first place finish, followed by teammate Samatha Hurley at 6’-6”, and in third was Sanchez at 6’-0”.

Bunnell continued in mounting up the points in the Discus Event, in a bit of surprise as Rivera threw to a distance of 70’-3”, in second was Bunnell’s Kayla Johnson at 70’-2”, and finishing the sweep wasVaida Staffy at 58’-5”.

In the 800 Meter Race it was all Bunnell again as Ciotti took first at 2:48, followed by Trinity Anderson and Sophia Viera in a tie at 3:03.

In the 200 Meter Dash it was Stratford’s Cortez in first at 27.1 seconds, Bunnell’s Rivera 27.8 seconds, and Stratford’s Evans in third at 27.9 seconds.

Bunnell also swept in the Shot Put Event with Johnson in first place with a heave of 28’-0.5”. Senior Moisha Belany in second at 25’-8”, and in third place was Amaya Williamson at 21’-7.5”

In the High Jump Event, Coimin was in first place (4’-6”), it was Bunnell’s Julissa James and Addison Huntting in a tie at 4’-0”.

In the 3200 Meter Race it was Bunnell's Jocker’s over Stratford’s Isabella Pato (15:55) with a time of 14:44.

In the Triple Jump Event, Bunnell’s final sweep, Coimin in first (32’-5.5”), Chloe Samson second at 30’-10”, and Promise Iboki in third at 27”-9”.

In the meet’s final event of the day it was the team of Ciotti, Wiles, Malani King, and Nikki Cunliffe in the 4X400 Relay Race cruising to a finish of 5:09.

Bunnell goes to 6 wins against 3 losses on the season. Stratford goes to 2 wins against 6 losses on the season.

Up next for Bunnell, at home on Tuesday May 9th, 4:00 pm against the Kolbe Cathedral Cougars and the New Milford Green Wave.