The Saddle Brook senior entered the meet as the defending Group 1 champion in the discus and shot put, and he capped off his defense with a disk throw of 176-10 to follow his first-place 58-9 shot put toss on Friday.
Giovanni Gutierrez knew he was the heavy favorite in both events, but he said nerves still lingered before he stepped up to the circle on Saturday. Although he fell short of his personal record of 187 in the discus due to fear of fouling, Gutierrez cruised to a title.
Coming in as a freshman, though, Gutierrez did not envision he would eventually call himself a two-time Group champion in two events.
“Freshman year? No,” Gutierrez said of his original mind-set. “Junior year, I started to pick it up, so I had a little bit of confidence, but I didn’t think I was going to win last year. This year, I felt a little more confident, but I knew it was going to be a challenge.”
