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Solorzano stepped up to give Lady Bulldogs a winning edge PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Friday, 28 December 2012 16:33
By J. Daniel Pearson
For the News-Gazette
Midway through this year’s Orange Belt Conference Championships you might forgive St. Cloud Coach Kevin Harkema for being a little apprehensive.  After all, three of his top four runners from the previous year’s team that registered a perfect score had graduated and he had just learned that Octavia Gonzalez, his top runner this season, had left the course with an injury. No problem for Harkema and the Lady Bulldogs.  Junior Karissa Solorzano came through with an impressive 20:56 in the 5K event to win the OBC individual title by more than 20 seconds over Poinciana’s  Gabrielle Rodriguez (21:22) to lead St. Cloud (40) past Osceola (59) for their third consecutive conference crown.
“Although I was running from our number two spot, winning OBC’s was a definite goal,” Solorzano, the Osceola News-Gazette Female Runner of the Year, said.  “I knew Octavia was struggling with injuries, so I felt I needed to pick up the slack.  I was a little nervous because I knew that Gabriella was an outstanding runner so I just tried to go out as strong and as fast as I could.”
After her outstanding performance at OBCs, Solorzano shaved almost a minute off her time (20:04.00) at the 3A District 5 meet at Edgewater Trotter’s Park to lead the Lady Bulldogs (74) to a second place finish behind Winter Springs.  
One week later, Solorzano (20:01.50) placed 10th out of 114 runners in regional competition at Sarasota.  Although the team finished 7th and had its season come to an end, Solorzano’s finish was high enough to earn her an at-large spot at the state championship meet in Tallahassee.
“I had a lot of mixed feelings about what happened at regionals,” Solorzano says. “It was always a goal to get to states but, frankly, I thought it would be as a team. It was a little weird when I realized I was the only one from St. Cloud moving on.”
Running at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Solorzano posted a time of 20:49 over the hilly course, finishing 92nd out of 185 runners. “It was the first time I had seen the course and it was really different from the Central Florida courses,” Solorzano said.  “It had a lot of elevations and one big hill really got to me.”
Solorzano says the experience was rewarding.
“Coach Harkema told me to go out and have fun with it. He said it was an honor to get there. It was exciting to compete against the state’s best runners.”
Harkema couldn’t have been prouder of Solorzano.
“Karissa is just a great person all around. She is one of those athletes who gives her all, not only for themselves, but for her team,” he said. “Last year she was an integral part of an awesome team and this year she was thrown into being a leader. She took the challenge and helped our team and the younger girls understand what it takes to be a champion. She always give her all in practice and at meets.”
Harkema said that she is so invested in the team that even her personal health sometimes takes a back seat.
“She was in the medical tent after the UF meet, and she was more concerned with people watching the JV runners than checking up on her,” he said. “I am so proud of her efforts of winning OBC, she was all-district, all-region and a state qualifier. She makes being a coach worth it.”
Solorzano is now preparing for track season, where she runs the 1,600 and 3,200 races plus the 4 x 800 relay.  She says that while she likes track, her favorite is cross country – a sport she hopes to compete in at the next level.
“I definitely would like to run in college,” Solorzano says. “It’s such a different sport. You have coaches, but the motivation to be successful really needs to come from within. You are constantly fighting with the voices inside of you that tell you to take the day off or something is too hard to accomplish and proving those voices wrong is what makes running so rewarding.”
 

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