By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

It’s a stretch to envision any team other than Harmony winning the Orange Belt Conference boys swimming championship Wednesday at the Makinson Aquatic Center.

The Longhorns already have set several school and county records and would like to peak for upcoming district, regional and state meets over the next month.

Harmony seeks its sixth consecutive conference crown and has dominated local meets this season.

“We hope to match last year’s performance by winning every event,” Coach Terry Brown said. “Obviously, the boys have focused their sights on the state series competition. This has been a fun group to coach. This team is very close and works hard together which is one of the elements needed to win championships.”

While Harmony should dominate the boys meet, the girls meet might be more closely contested as defending champion Osceola and Harmony match up closely. The Lady Longhorns won a dual meet between the schools last month, 95-75.

“The girls OBC meet will be very close. With the structure of the championship meet, depth becomes crucial,” Brown said.

Osceola’s girls won only one event last year at the OBC meet, but they scored among the top two or three in every event to earn a close victory over Harmony and Gateway. Osceola snapped Harmony’s string of five consecutive girls titles.

Osceola Coach Krystle Singleton said her teams performed well at the National Spa and Pool Association meet last week at Orlando and can carry that momentum forward.

Osceola’s boys and girls dispatched St. Cloud in a dual meet Tuesday.

“We had phenomenal swims from both sets of kids,” Singleton said. “OBCs will be close, but I’m hoping we can give Harmony a run for their money. We’re hoping to surprise ourselves and others with a few swims we can put together.”

Like Harmony, Osceola’s swim team will quickly turn its attention to the district and regional meets later this month.

Gateway and Osceola will compete at the 3A-3 district meet at the I-Drive YMCA Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. Celebration, Harmony and St. Cloud go to Winter Haven Oct. 28 (Oct. 27 for diving) for the 2A-7 district meet, and Poinciana travels to Trinity Prep Oct. 29 for the A-4 district competition.