It will be a busy two weeks for many county teams, as the winter post-season gets underway in earnest, while the boys basketball and wrestling enter the final weeks of their regular seasons.
Both the boys and girls soccer teams from Harmony and Celebration will take to the pitch against each other on opposite fields to determine district championships. And a large contingent of local girls’ weight lifters will travel to Pt. Charlotte for regional competition.
Here’s a look around the county and the sports:
BOYS SOCCER: Celebration is the state’s fifth ranked team in Class 7A and took an 11-2-1 mark into Tuesday night’s 7A, District 9 title game against Harmony (9-8). The Storm has allowed just eight goals in 14 games this season, and has also recorded nine clean sheets, including an 8-0 victory over Liberty in Friday’s district semifinals. Julio D’Lima (7 goals) leads a balanced Storm attack. After an up-and-down season, Harmony reached the final with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Tohopekaliga on Friday. The Longhorns attack is led by three-sport standout Alex Tuyo. In Class 5A, Gateway (11-2-1) hosted Auburndale in a District 6 semifinal on Monday night. A win would put the Panthers into a Wednesday district final – most likely at top-seed Horizon (10-3-4).
GIRLS WEIGHTLIFTING: Under head coach Cory Aun, the Lady Bulldogs won a pair of district championships this past weekend and will advance champions in both events. St. Cloud bested seven other teams to win the traditional (bench, clean and jerk) Class 3A, District 9 championship with 71 points. Celebration (40) was second and Harmony (31) was third. Automatically advancing to next Friday’s regional meet were Lady Bulldogs champions Ashley Aun (101-pound weight class), Abaigail Davis (110), Layla Lara (119) and Kiara Suwaswi (183). The performance by Aun and Davis were particularly impressive, as Aun won her weight class by 75 pounds and Davis’ two-lift total of 315 pounds in the 110-pound class would have won nine of the 10 weight classes, including seven of the heavier weight classes. Also garnering automatic advancement to regionals were class champions from Celebration Fabiana Milan-Profeta (154), Lylian San Miguel (169) and Yomileanys Lopez (199). Osceola’s Shannon Levy (129) and Tohopekaliga’s Alexa Woodman (139) were also victorious in their weight classes and will gain automatic advancement to regionals.
The Olympic (clean and jerk / snatch) district championship also went to St. Cloud with 80 points, Celebration (36) was second and Osceola (31) third. Aun, Lara, Levy, Woodman, Milan-Profeta and San Miguel all took double championships by winning the Olympic portion. They will be joined at regionals by St. Cloud’s Kaitlyn Gallagher-Perez, who won at the 110-pound class and Morgan Vanuken, who won at 183. Osceola’s Aykhia Williams took the 190-pound class to advance. Based on her performance of total weight lifted versus body weight and margin of victory, Aun was named the Most Valuable lifter in both the traditional and Olympic events.
In addition to district champions, 16 at large lifters can earn spots in the regional competition based on district results for 20 lifters in each class. Based on his team’s performance, Aun is hopeful that up to 18 of his lifters will qualify for regionals.
WRESTLING: Tohopeklaliga will host the Orange Belt Conference championships Saturday. Last week, the flu bug forced the Kowboys to send just a partial squad to the Live Greco Tournament at George Steinbrenner High. Still Cooper Haase (39-1), Gunner Holland (38-3), and Eric Van Sickle came away with individual championships in the 150, 170, and 220-pound classes. Jomar Sanchez (195) took third. Without several starters, Osceola finished in sixth place. National power Lake Highland Prep was first at 286.5 points and had six individual champions. Harmony hosted the 37th Flagler Rotary Tournament and bested 30 other teams to win the team championship with 218.5 points. Rey Ortiz (132-pound class) and Shawn McCallister (138) went to 35-2 on the season to win their respective weight classes; while Nelson Toro (285) remained undefeated (33-0) with three pins in taking his individual championship title.
BOYS BASKETBALL: District tournaments start next Monday for boys’ basketball, as teams end their regular season this week. Osceola went to 13-11 on the season and won their sixth consecutive game with a 46-44 win over Harmony in the championship game of the Orange Belt Conference Tournament. It was Osceola’s sixth consecutive OBC crown (read game story here: https://www.aroundosceola.com/sports/osceola-wins-6th-straight-obc-thrilling-boys-hoops-win-over-harmony ) Freshman Lucas McCrimon led the way with 13 points for the Kowboys; Vlad Torrado had 13 for the Longhorns.
GIRLS BASKETBALL: District tournament wrap up this week and Osceola County has two teams favored to win championships as both St. Cloud (6A, District 7) and Gateway (5A-7) are top seeds. St. Cloud went to 20-5 overall after a 49-44 win over Oviedo in their regular season finale. Junior Emily Lockey (15.2 ppg) has been the Lady Bulldogs’ top scorer. The Panthers (19-6) will have a chance to get to 20 wins when they host a district semifinal game on Wednesday night. Gateway has been led all season by senior Vanessa Diaz, who became the school’s first-ever 2,000 career point scorer in a Senior Night win Friday over Liberty, and junior Malayna Stevenson, who has already reached the 1,000-point plateau.
GIRLS SOCCER: Celebration (14-2-0) has outscored its opponents 98-12 this year and won an Orange Belt Conference championship but will be on the road Tuesday night as Harmony (11-3-3) garnered the top seed in Class 7A, District 9. Based on current rankings, the loser of that championship game should advance to regionals as an at-large team. The Storm reached Tuesday’s championship with an 8-0 win over Poinciana in the semifinals; while Harmony got to the finals by the same score over Tohopekaliga. Senior Erin Ozyurek and sophomore Ellie Armstrong have led the Storm attack all season with both scoring double-digit goals. In other soccer news, Poinciana senior Valerie Correa set a county and area record this season when she netted an incredible 82 goals this season for the Eagles. Correa’s total is second to the state record of 95 set by Satellite Beach’s Andi Sellers during the 1995-96 season.
