Dozens of athletes from Osceola county schools will attempt to qualify for the FHSAA State Track and Field Championships this Saturday, as regional meets are held around the state.
Osceola will host the Class 4A, Region 3 meet, where St. Cloud and Tohopekaliga will be participants. Harmony, Poinciana, Gateway and Liberty will travel to Lake Region High School at Eagle Lake for the Class 3A, Region 2 meet; while Celebration and Tohopekaliga will be at George Jenkins High School in Lakeland for the Class 4A, Region 2 meet.
The top four finishers in each event will qualify for next week’s state championships; while eight at-large spots are also available to the best times/ distances of non-automatic qualifiers.
CLASS 4A, REGION 3
Top seeds for regionals include Osceola’s Markevious Jackson who will be the number one seed in the 400-meter run. Jackson has run several of the fastest times in the country this year and will be favored to win both the regional and Class 4A state championship in the event.
The Kowboys’ 4 x 400 relay team will be seeded number two in regionals. St. Cloud will have its 4 x 400 relay team seeded third for regionals; while Ayomiku Adegbile will be seeded 5th in the 110-meter hurdles.
Top prospects for Tohopekaliga include Christian White, who is seeded first in the long jump after winning districts with a leap of 21’-6”.
Orlando Descartes will be seeded third in the high jump and Julian Pomales will be seeded fifth in the 1,600-meter run. On the women’s side, Alysa Whetro could advance in three individual events. She will be seeded second in the high jump (5’-1”), second in the javelin (102’- 6”) and fourth in the long jump (17’-2”).
On the girls’ side, Osceola’s Shannon Levy will be seeded fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100 and 200 meter runs; while the Lady Kowboys’ 4 x 100 meter team has the fourth best time among regional participants. St. Cloud’s top girl seed is Eno Inyang, who is seeded first in both the shot and discus and 20th in the javelin.
CLASS 3A, REGION 2
Harmony, which won both boys and girls district titles last week, will send large contingents to regionals. Top qualifiers for the Longhorns on the boys side include Mason Fabrizio and Chris Eckholdt, who are seeded second and sixth in the pole vault; Alex Rosa seeded third in the javelin; Joel Jean seeded fourth in the 3,200-meter run; and Alex Tuyo who is seeded third in the 300 hurdles.
The Lady Longhorns hope to advance several individual event athletes and relay teams to the state finals. Among the top seeds from Harmony will be Alaine Rivera (seeded 2nd in 800-meter run); Thora Gaston (2nd in the javelin); Drea Thompson (3rd in high jump) and its 4 x 800 relay team, which posted the second fastest time for the Region 2 teams.
Gateway’s top hopes on the girls’ side may rest with Alise Paige, who is seeded in three events – including fourth in the shot, fifth in the javelin and 15th in the discus.
Poinciana’s Guy Bond will try to advance in three individual events. He is seeded first in the high jump, fourth in the long jump and 27th in the 100-meter dash. Bond will also attempt to qualify in the 4 x 400 meter relay, where the Eagles are seeded third. Another Eagle who will be favored to advance to the state championships are senior Omario Windett who will be seeded third in the 800-meters and fourth in the 1,600-meters.
CLASS 4A REGION 2
The Celebration 4 x 400 meter relay team of Oscar Newman, David Barfield, Jared Falchook and Chase Robbins will be the top seed in the 4 by 400-meter relay; while Falchook is also seeded sixth in the 3,200-meter run. Sebastain Edwards is the top seeded individual for Celebration and the second seed in the 800-meter run. He also seeded 9th in the 1,600-meters.
Top hopes for the Celebration girls will be Helena Huyke, who will attempt to qualify in three individual events.
Huyke is seeded second in the 100-meter hurdles, 4th in the 300-meter hurdles and 3rd in the high jump. Kendall Matoska will attempt to qualify in both the high jump and triple jump, where she is ranked 8th and 5th in the region, respectively.
