Harmony High School left little doubt that they were the top county program in track this year by winning both the girls and boys team Orange Belt Conference (OBC) Championships held April 8.
The boys squad racked up 164.5 team points to outdistance second place Celebration (127.50) and host St. Cloud (124). It was almost a mirror image on the girls side, as the order of finish was the same with the Lady Longhorns (206) finishing in front of Celebration (124.5) and St. Cloud (109.5).
Led by Alaine Rivera’s sweep in the 1,600 and 800 meter runs, the Harmony girls won five events in the meet including Drea Thompson’s win in the high jump and Elizabeth Hernstrom’s victory in the pole vault.
Harmony dominated in two of the relays with the 4 x 800 relay team of Kaitlyn Ritter, Rebeka Wiles, Byrnn Magnor and Izabelle Reicherd turned in a time of 10:27.44 – beating the second place team by more than 30 seconds; while its 4 x 400 team of Shelby Fertic, Adriana Schueler, Vanelis Ramos, and Alaine Rivera won that race by more than 14 seconds in a time of 4:12.89.
But it was Harmony’s depth that made the real difference in the girls meet. The Lady Longhorns placed two or more individuals in the top five in six different events to finish more than 81 points in front of their nearest competitor.
“We are extremely happy for our kids,” Longhorn girls Track Coach Adam Kerns said. “They are truly special group that are extremely self-motivated to improve on a daily basis. Honestly they make the jobs of the coaches pretty easy.”
There were other standout performers on the girls’ event. Celebration’s Helena Huyke won three individual events, taking the long jump, 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. The Lady Storm also had champions in 3,200-meter run with Catalina Edwards, and the triple jump with Kendall Matoska. Edwards’ time of 12:01.25 was a new meet record.
Osceola’s Sharon Levy won both the 100 and 200 meter runs and then ran a leg on the winning 4 x100 relay team. Eno Inyang, the Osceola News-Gazette’s Player of the Year in basketball, was the OBC champion in the shot put and finished second in the discus to Gateway’s Paige Alise. Inyang’s winning toss of 12.66 meters was both a county and new OBC record. The Lady Panthers also had an OBC Champion in Amela Johnson, who won the 400-meter run. Tohopekaliga’s Alysa Whetro won the javelin throw, with a new OBC Meet record of 32.66 meters.
On the boys’ side, Harmony claimed five championships, led by Alex Tyro’s win in the 300-meter hurdles and running a leg on the winning 4x100 relay team. Christian Davis led a 1-2-3 sweep in the discus for the Longhorns with a winning toss of 37.96 meters. Mason Fabrizio won the pole vault and Caleb Balado won the triple jump as the Longhorns excelled in the field events.
“Without question our depth was the key to the team win,” Harmony boys track coach Debra Richardson said. “We had four competitors in most events and scored team points in 16 of the 18 events. Our distance runners, throwers and pole vaulters have been stable point scorers for us all season, but we got some surprise victory from our 4 x 100 relay team and the 300-meter hurdles. We had a lot of personal bests in the meet and that will give us a lot of confidence heading into districts.”
Although Celebration did not have the depth to win the team championship, they did tie Harmony with five first place finishes in the meet. David Barfield doubled for the Storm taking both the 100-meter and 200-meter titles, Chase Roggins was the 400-meter champ, and Sebastain Edwards won the 3,200-meter run in a OBC record time of 9:43.5. Barfield also ran a leg on Celebration’s winning 4 x100-meter relay team.
Poinciana had four individual champions. Senior Guy Bond won the high jump in setting a new OBC meet record at 2.05 meters. Omario Windett won the 1,600-meter run and then set both an OBC and Osceola County record with a winning time of 1:55.81 in the 800-meter run; while Mike Centeno won the long jump.
Tohopekaliga has champions in Pete Rodriguez in the shot put, Demario Tolan in the 110-meter hurdles and Orlando Descartes – who set a new OBC Meet Record in the javelin at 44.02 meters. Descartes had set the county record of 46.90 meters a week earlier at the Tohopekaliga Invitational.
St. Cloud captured the other championship as Aiden Cuddy, John Ortiz-Torres, Andres Soto and Jonathan Macnab breezed to victory in the 4 x 800 relay in a time of 8:28.79.
Osceola’s Markevious Jackson, who is nationally ranked in the 200 and 400 meters, scratched from the meet after experiencing hamstring tightness prior to his first race.
“Nothing serious but with district, regionals and states coming up we did not want to take any chances with him,” Head Coach Eric Pinellas said.
