Decorated St. Cloud High track athlete Kyla Perez won her first OBC cross country individual title Wednesday in a time of 20:03.70. (Photo/Donald Lamb)
St. Cloud’s Brody Ansbaugh and Kyla Perez took home individual titles while the Bulldogs also repeated as boys’ team champions at the 2025 Orange Belt Conference Cross Country Meet at Austin Tindall Park on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a sweet ending for Ansbaugh, a junior who has had to overcome numerous injuries and illnesses during the first two years of his career, as he finished first over the 5K course in 17:06.45.
“I’ve been working towards this goal for the last couple of years,” Ansbaugh said. “Last year I got a fever the day of the race and sort of struggled the rest of the season. Today, it just came together. The last 200 yards of race all I could think about is what it took to get here.”
St. Cloud was the somewhat surprise winner of the boys team title. The Bulldogs were without two of their better runners because of injury, but still got a second-place finish from Luis Rivera (17:08.85) and Carson Devlin (18:02.10) finished seventh. The Bulldogs clinched the title when Marcos Quinones finished 14th and Koda Harkema – returning from injury this week – came in 17th.
“We ran at the FSU Invitational last Saturday and were without our three of our regulars that normally score for us,” St. Cloud Coach Keven Harkema said. “We got Koda back today, but needed everyone else had to do their job today and they did. Really happy for Brody, he has been putting in the training since the beginning of summer and never misses workouts. He’s been amazing and that work paid off for him today.”
St. Cloud (41 points) got just enough to keep Gateway (45 points) from its first OBC boys title since 1991. Tane Crossley’s squad got third and fourth place finishes from Anderson Olea (17:22.77) and Langston Carry (17:36.93) and Nicholas Gordils (18:04.48) was eighth.
Celebration (80), Harmony (86), Tohopekaliga (104), Osceola (147) followed in the team standings.
Ansbaugh, Rivera, Devlin, Olea, Langston, and Gordils were joined on the OBC All-County team by Celebration’s Malechi Vongphrachanh (5th, 17:40.82) and Tohopekaliga’s James Happl (6th ,17:49.87).
A multiple-time OBC track champion for the Lady Bulldogs, senior Kyla Perez captured her first girls individual title in 20:03.70.
“It feels amazing to win this race. I worked so hard to get here and so happy that I got this opportunity,” Perez said. “I was really hoping for a better time, but it was pretty hot out there and this course is not for the weak.”
Although Perez won and teammate Cailyn Matchak was fourth (21:41.33), Harmony’s superior depth allowed the Longhorns to claim their first conference crown since 2021.
Lily Ashley (22:16.36), Miranda Diaz-Morales (22:23.42), Elismarie Nunez (22:51.02) and Giana Valez (23:01.93) finished 6-7-8-9 for the Longhorns. Cadence Edwards was 14th as Harmony finished with 44 team points to outdistance the Celebration (58) and St. Cloud (63).
“At the top of the roster we have four runners that are really close to each other in ability,” Harmony coach Shasta Edwards said. “That depth really made a difference for us today.”
St. Cloud (63), Gateway (92) and Tohopekaliga (95) were third through fifth in the team standings.
Perez, Matchak and the three Harmony runners were joined on the OBC All-County team by Celebration’s Evelyn Juden (2nd, 20:31.27), Tohopekaliga’s Amyiah Hall (3rd, 20:39.37) and Gateway’s Lauren Allen (5th, 22:01.21).
Next up for the runners are FHSAA district meets scheduled Nov. 3-8.
