Other fall spots are wrapping up with state championships having concluded in volleyball and swimming, while championships will be determined in golf next week and cross country this weekend. Osceola County was and will be well-represented. Here is a roundup:
GOLF: Both St. Cloud boys and girls teams are headed to the Class 3A FHSAA state championship at Mission Resort Nov. 19-20. The boys will play the El Campeon course and the girls will take on the Las Colinas course.
The Lady Bulldogs are the first Osceola County golf team (boys or girls) to qualify for four consecutive state tournaments. The Lady Bulldogs had their highest finish in school history last year, finishing fourth.
Lady Bulldogs Karolyna Adams, Maddie Burda, Abigail Murphy, Olivia Siegel and Nadia Burda placed second to Lake Nona (the state’s No. 1 overall seed) in district play and tied for fourth in the regional to easily secure an available at-large spots based on their overall ranking. St. Cloud is seeded No. 8 overall among the girls’ teams.
Like the Lady Bulldogs, the St. Cloud boys’ team ran into a buzz saw at the Region 2 championships, where three schools posted under-par team scores. The team of Espn Pool, Arnold Pouncy, Dominick Velazquez, Ethan Parrish and Wyatt Wheeler picked up one of the at-large spots due to their outstanding overall season and is seeded No. 13 heading into the state tournament.
“Both teams won OBC Championships and placed second in tough districts. We’re extremely proud of their accomplishments,” St. Cloud Athletics Director Bryan Smart said.
CROSS COUNTRY: In Class 4A, the St. Cloud Bulldogs boys’ team will compete in Saturday’s state meet at Apalachee Park in Tallahassee after securing the and final automatic qualifying spot at the Region 2 Championship at South Country Regional Park in Boca Raton last Saturday.
Led by Isaiah Corchado (21st place, 16:44), the team of Adon Elienist (36th), Silas Corchado (41st), Luis Rivera (44th) and Brody Ansbaugh (47th) posted a team score of 189 to edge out Melbourne to claim the that last team spot.
The St. Cloud boys’ team will be joined by two-time OBC champion Levi Lee from Poinciana High School. He finished 12th overall in a personal record 16:07 and was the second best finisher among non-qualifying teams and the top runner from Osceola County in the race.
The St. Cloud girls (13th) failed to move on as a team, and senior Lailana Decker (19:16.2, 13th overall) just missed qualifying for as individual— finishing one spot out of an atlarge qualifying spot.
The Class 3A Region 2 meet was held last Thursday at Fred Poppe Park in Palm Bay. Led by senior Xavier Rivera-Melendez (13th place, 16:59.40) and freshman Lanston Carry (21st-17:28.82), the Gateway Panthers are headed to the 3A meet as a team on Friday. Santiago Rodriguez (31st), Anderson Olea (47th) and freshman Nicholas Gordils (56th) rounded out the scoring as the Panthers (168 points) finished fifth in the 16-team regional to grab an automatic spot for the state meet.
Lauren Allen (41st) was the top girls finisher for Gateway at the regional meet.
SWIMMING: A small contingent of Osceola County swimmers qualified for the FHSAA Class 4A Championships this past Saturday at the FAST Swimming Center in Ocala. Celebration’s Walter Zeman (50 and 100 free) qualified in two events, as did teammate Mahmoud Morcy (100 fly, 100 back) and Harmony’s Aaron Stephenson (200 IM and 100 breast). The Longhorns Haley Kurth qualified in diving while the Celebration boys 400 frestyle relay also qualified.
Zeman posted to two top five finishes, earning all-state honors by taking third in the 50 free (20.47) and fifth in the 100 free (45.34). Morsy also made the finals in his two individual events, placing eighth in the 100 fly (50.02) and eighth in the 100 back (52.93). Stephenson scored Harmony’s only points in the meet with a 15h place finish in the 200 IM (1:56.91); while the Celebration boys’ 400 relay team made the consolation finals and placed 15th behind the efforts of Morsy, Ryan Odom, Samuel Yaw and Zeman. Overall, the Celebration boys placed 14th in the state with 56 points.
“Really proud of our team’s effort,” Celebration coach Ellen Becker said. “We placed four swimmers in the finals of four events and our relay team made the consolation finals.”
VOLLEYBALL: Osceola (24-5) lost a hard-fought four set semifinal match Winter Park on Friday and then watched as the number two Wildcats defeated No. 1 seeded Plant in five sets to win the FHSAA Class 7A championship Saturday. Osceola coach Carrie Palmi said it was tough to watch, knowing her team was so close to winning its first state championship.
“We were tied 1-1 but lost the third and fourth sets because of a couple of plays that went the other way,” Palmi said. “And they turn around and win the state title in a super close match with Plant. At the end of the day, I really do not think there was much difference between any of us. Give Winter Park the credit though, they made the few extra plays that made the difference in both the semifinals and finals.”
