Important district meets begin next week
Harmony High remains the top track program in Osceola County, as both the boys’ and girls’ teams won Orange Belt Conference team titles for the third year in a row on Wednesday at St. Cloud.
The girls side was a bit of a runaway as the Longhorns won five individual events and used its superior team depth to score 170 points to get by second place St. Cloud (145). Osceola was third (133) and Celebration – last year’s runner-up – was fourth with 113.
The Longhorns boys’ team needed almost all of their 150.5 points to edge Osceola (145), who did extremely well in the sprints and field events. Tohopekaliga (129) and Gateway (88) were third and fourth.
Individual winners on the Harmony girls’ side included Drea Thompson in the high jump (5’-5 ¾”); Chloe Barrett (30’-8”) in the shot put; Hallie Vickers in the Javelin (95’-7”) and Lailana Decker in the 3,200-meter run (12:07.48). Kacey Sinagoga and Vickers also tied for first in the pole vault (8’-10 ¼”) – good for 16 points -- with Tohopekaliga’s Brianna Rodriguez.
Several other teams won three or more individual events, but it was Harmony’s depth that really paid off. Shelby Fertic and Brynn Magner finished second and third in the 800 meters and Magner and Decker finished 2-3 in the 1,600 meters, adding 28 points.
“I can’t say enough about the group of seniors on this team,” Harmony girls coach Adam Kerns said. “They lost their freshman season to Covid, but this makes three county championships in row. Conditions were not great, but they fought through it, which is really the personality of this team. I also want to complement St. Cloud for not only hosting the meet but for the great job their girls did today. They gave us a really competitive meet.”
Other individual standouts included Osceola sprinter Shannon Levy, who picked up four gold medals by winning the 100 (12.02), 200 (25.81), long jump (16’-4”) and ran a leg on the winning 4x100 meter relay team with Zanaya Bright, Zebrielle Canaday and Sofia Houser.
Celebration won four events: Catalina Edwards took both the 800 (2:24.48) and 1600 meters (5:28.61). The Florida State commit also ran a leg on the winning 4x800 relay with Alyla Moffit, Hallee Schadt, and Sophia Meadows. Sophomore Makenna McBroom won the 400-hurdles in an OBC meet and Osceola County record time of 1:07.11.
Freshman Sanaa Charles won the triple jump (34’-3 ¼”) for St. Cloud and was also second in the high jump. Basketball standout Hallie Collins was a multiple point scorer for the Lady Bulldogs in the throws by winning the discus (94’-2”) and was second in the shot put and fourth in the javelin.
In addition to tie for first in the pole vault by Toho’s Rodriguez, the other individual winner was Gateway’s Amela Johnson, who won the 400 meters in 58.84.
On the boys’ side, Osceola picked up huge points in the sprints as junior Henly Placide doubled in the 100 (11.16) and 200 meters (22.66) and ran a leg on the winning 4x100 relay with Taevion Swint, Alijah Jenkins and Jakari Watson. Swint had his hand in 31 team points with second-place finishes in the long jump and 200 meters and fourth place in the 100-meters. Senior David Buggs had a huge meet with 26 points; won the discus (132’-8 ¼’) and shot put (46’-0 ¾”) and was third in the javelin.
Still the heroics were not enough to unseat Harmony as team champions. Bryce Sanchez won the 400 meters; while Alex Tuyo, who also excelled in football and soccer for the Longhorns, doubled in the 110-hurdles (14.34) and 400-hurdles in an OBC record time of 56.55. David Hunter won the javelin with a toss of 148’04 ¼”.
And, like the girls team, the Longhorn boys relied on depth to win the title. Harmony scored 66 ½ points in events where they did not have a first place finish and added an additional 25 points in events they also won, with 18 points in the javelin, 11 in the pole vault and 12 in the 3200 meters.
“The key to the win was everyone did their jobs today,” Longhorns boys coach Debra Richardson said. “We definitely had some surprises like Aiden Peterson getting third in the 100 when he wasn’t one of the top eight seeds; and Bryce Sanchez winning the 400. But we were solid in the events we felt we should have won, including Alex Tuyo winning both hurdle races and David Hunter winning in the javelin.”
Tohopekaliga, who finished second on the boys’ side in 2022, had four winners, including Johan Comacho, who doubled in the 1600 (4:29.56) and 3200-meters (9:35.66). Javon Andrew Brown, a standout on the Tigers basketball and boys’ volleyball team, won the triple jump (43’-11 ¾”); while Angel Mendoza took the pole vault (12’-11 ½”).
Other boys championships went to Gateway in the 4x400 relay; Celebration in the 4x800 relay and Evan Amay’s win in the 800-meter run (8:34.51). St. Cloud’s Jahleek Lawrence took the high jump with a leap of 6’-5 ¼”; while Poinciana’s Hakeem Alvena won the long jump (21’-7 ¾”).
There is one week left in the regular season before the start of district meets, where county schools will be spread out. Osceola, St. Cloud and Harmony will compete in the District 4A-10 meet hosted by the Longhorns on April 27. The other five county schools will compete on April 22 with Celebration and Poinciana competing in the $a-5 meet at George Jenkins; Tohopekaliga will be at the 4A-9 meet at Boone; with Gateway and Liberty running in the 3A-8 meet at Eagle Creek. The top four individual and relay teams at districts advance to regionals.
