St. Cloud sweep 1st since ’04 season

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

It was like old times for the St. Cloud cross country teams Wednesday when both the boys (32) and girls (27) won Orange Belt Conference championships at Harmony.

St. Cloud dominated the OBC meet from 2002-04, sweeping each year.

Coach Kevin Harkema’s Bulldogs entered as favorites and delivered, easily outpacing Liberty (67), Harmony (82), defending champ Gateway (100), Osceola (120), Celebration (158) and Poinciana (172).

The Lady Bulldogs’ victory came as a stunning surprise to Harkema and even to his runners, since defending champion Harmony (32) was the clear favorite. After Harmony came Liberty (92), Celebration (104), Gateway (133), Osceola (149) and Poinciana (168).

“Not in my wildest dreams could you have told me that we’d go 1-2-3 in that race,” Harkema said. “Maybe 1-2, or 1-3 or something like that. They had a fantastic run.”

St. Cloud’s Ashlyn Stadtlander (20:58) won the race, followed closely by teammates Anaya Reid and Katelyn Stadtlander, Ashlyn’s sister.

Harmony’s Sam Travis, Chelsea Conner, Kylie Koral and Brittany Conner took the next four positions, but St. Cloud’s Rebecca Davis (9th) and Taylor Wassum (12th) finished in time to provide the Lady Bulldogs the victory.

Harmony’s Krystle Ward was 10th.

“Coach Harkema said to stay with them (Harmony) early, not to let them get too far ahead,” Ashlyn Stadtlander said. “He had been telling us for the last couple of weeks that this is a different season, that we could do it.”

Harkema said that the Lady Dogs proved to him that they were capable of winning as he watched the team continually improve throughout the season.

“The last couple of weeks, we really pointed toward this race. Everything we did was designed to have them running their best (at the OBC meet),” Harkema said. “With the boys, it was a little different. They are more focused on the districts and running well at state. They didn’t run their best times today, but they did pretty well.”

St. Cloud took four of the top eight spots in the boys race with Bailey Morgan (3rd), Matt Cole (4th), Carlos Perez (6th) and Antonio Montalvo (8th). Eric Ratliff (11th) was St. Cloud’s fifth runner.

Celebration newcomer Quincy O’Connor (16:28) won the boys race over Harmony’s Matt Henning (16:37).

O’Connor, a junior, transfered from New York in July and quickly established himself as the runner to beat in the Orange Belt Conference.

“My time (Wednesday) was actually kind of slow,” he said. “I’m not sure what it was, the legs just didn’t seem to be working.”

O’Connor’s best time this season, 15:29, ranks him among the top eight statewide in Class 3A.

Record high heat that crossed the 90 degree mark didn’t make the 3-mile run any easier as several runners crumpled to their knees after crossing the finish line.

“It was warm; my time was kind of slow,” St. Cloud’s Ashlyn Stadtlander said. “This was the first time I had run this course. I didn’t expect to win, but I thought that I could win. I really couldn’t tell you what happened behind me. I was focused on the (pace) cart after about the first mile.”

Rounding out the top 10 in the girls race was Celebration’s Christina Ricci, eighth.

Also in the top 10 for the boys were Liberty’s Germine Amadis (5th), Gateway’s Bryan Cudjoe (7th), Liberty’s Robbie Johnroe (9th) and Harmony’s Alex Grieve (10th).

The top seven girls and boys are members of the all-OBC team.

Harmony girls coach Debra Schweiger said her team did not tap its potential at the OBC race.

“There are five seniors on this team. It’s now or never,” she said. “I hope they run better at districts.”

Liberty Coach Robert Pauley said his fifth-place male runner, Amadis, did well, as did his entire team. The second-place finish by the boys was the best in the program’s history.

“(Amadis) ran a great race. The varsity men picked up the pace and ran very well,” he said. “I was very pleased with the women as they were and still are banged up. Finishing third was the team goal, so we are very happy with them.”

The district meets are next Saturday.

Harmony will host the 3A-7 meet at 9 a.m. St. Cloud, Liberty and Celebration will be among the participants.

Osceola and Gateway compete at the 4A-2 meet at Palm Bay Regional Park, starting at 8 a.m.

Poinciana races at the 2A-4 meet at Palm Bay Regional Park, starting at 9:30 a.m.