Osceola girls will challenge

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The annual question around Osceola County pools is: Can anyone beat Harmony?

The Longhorns have owned the Orange Belt Conference championships for the past five (girls) and four (boys) years, and despite the loss of many good swimmers to graduation, the Longhorns will be contenders again.

Osceola’s girls may be poised to retake the conference title they once owned for three years in the early 2000s, and Gateway, St. Cloud and Celebration all will challenge. Poinciana is rebuilding and Liberty does not compete.

Harmony

The constant during Harmony’s OBC reign is the coaching staff, headed by Terry Brown (boys) and Lori O’Rourke. Both have been with the program since its inception in 2004.

Brown is enthusiastic about the boys team, off to a 3-0 start.

“We are excited about our team this year. We have many new talented swimmers and divers who will contribute early,” Brown said. “They will complement our existing guys to hopefully build upon another successful season.”

Returning seniors are: captain and state qualifier Tyler Cunningham, Matt Frankenberg, Ruda Silva, Nick Clark, Austin Murphy, Jacob Meador  and diver Logan Tindal.

Also returning are team captains Mitchell Mungall and Brandon Graber.

“Our meet against Titusville should give us a good indication of how good we will be.  Viera will also be a challenge that we are looking forward to in the weeks to come,” Brown said.

O’Rourke said her girls team may be vulnerable after graduation hit hard.

“This is going to be a rebuilding year for our girls team. We lost 18 members from last year’s squad to graduation and relocation,” she said. “ We have a great group of new kids out who we expect will favorably impact our team.”

Returning seniors in-clude captain Briana Felitti and Allison Felitti. Also serving as team captains are sophomore Lindsey Saute and junior Olivia Missigman.

O’Rourke said her team,  2-1, will try to live up to its tradition.

“That may be challenging, but we have new swimmers and divers with a great deal of heart and soul,” she said. “We anticipate they will bring their determination each time they hit the pool.”

Osceola

The Lady Kowboys, under Coach Krystle Singleton, are working hard to return the OBC crown to Osceola.

“My girls team is looking pretty strong. We took a huge hit due to graduation and kids moving; however, we’re ready to compete, and my girls are in the water and working harder than they ever have before,” she said.

Osceola’s top veterans are senior Jenny Guiterrez, juniors Sarah Lambert, Jenna Adams, Amber Hammock, Brooke Baron, Jordan Copeland and Holly O’Donnell. Freshman Kendall Castillow will also make an impact.

“I’ve got quite a few others who will be great, but these are probably my top girls,” Singleton said.

Joining the coaching staff is Kari (Abell) Ewalt. She and Singleton were key elements of Osceola’s conference championship teams in the early in the early 2000s.

“I think we’re in a great position to do some amazing things,” Singleton said.

Coach Trish Abell’s boys team has the depth, with 25 swimmers, to challenge Harmony.

Returners include captain Caleb Furgeson and Daniel Wade, Casey Raines, Paul Gursky, Alex Adames, Michael Pierson, Tim Locksmith, Danny Adams and Alex Valentin.

Newcomers are Adam Lentz, Tim Elsterman and Cody Dana. The returning divers are Paul Zupofska, Alex Adames and Thomas Grenus. Elmer Figueroa joins for his first season.

“I am looking forward too seeing them shine in competition,” Abell, in her 10th season, said.

Diving coach Jane Singleton and Shannon Magnuson, a former standout at Gateway, round out the OHS coaching staff.

Celebration

The Storm program should continue its surge under Coach Christy Hodson.

Returning for the boys are Micheal Fontaine, Alex McKeeman, Michael Petriella and Roy Bohyn.

Among the veterans on the girls squad are Darby Richards, Kristen Schneider, Lauren Temple and Niki Patten.

“We have many new swimmers this year and we are hoping to build some new talent,” Hodson said. “All seniors have their eyes set on regionals and we hope to place many swimmers at districts.”

St. Cloud

The Bulldog boys have new coaches this season in T.J. Walters, a former standout on the team, and John Stump.

Although the Bulldogs are hit hard by the loss of four-time state qualifier Randy Dunton to graduation, the team should be solid thanks to the return of Joseph Long, Ryan Bender, Ryan Grathwol and newcomer Colton Glasscock.

The girls are coached by LouAnn Abbott and Theresa Creagan.

Back are Rachel Smith, Olivia Faulkner and Samantha Deason. Freshman Christina Smith is a talented newcomer.

“We had a lot of swimmers come out this year. With a little refinement and the larger meet schedule, this team wants to do well at districts,” Abbott said.

Gateway

Vonnie Kochensparger is the dean of the county’s swimming coaches, entering her 15th season at Gateway.

“We have about 35 kids right now and it seems like the team is getting bigger every day,” she said. “We lost a lot of kids last year to graduation. We have a ton of new kids and a bunch of freshmen. They have been working really hard and seem like they are going to be a good group.

Returning to the girls squad are junior Jodi Hennen (100 back, 200 and 500 free, 200 IM), sophomore Ali Klar (freestyle, 200 IM, 100 breast), senior Alex Martinez (all strokes), junior Melissa Morgan (50 and 100 free, 100 back) and sophomore Julie Ocana (100 free).

Key swimmers for the boys include junior Cesar Abuchar (freestyle), senior Jake Atkins (50 and 100 free), junior Adam Fortier (200 and 500 free), junior Aaron Gomez (backstroke), senior Josh Gomez (50 and 100 free, 100 back), junior Michael Lavallee (freestyle), junior Braden Robinson (200 and 500 free) and junior Justin Tirado (100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke).

The boys roster includes Richard Cardona, Mike Morrisey, Ryan Irwin, Kevin Calderon, Dominic Carnahan, Jorge Parra, Robert Gonzalez and Jonathan Almendarez.

Martie Wagner is currently the only female member of the team.