Late April can bring one of the busiest times of the year for high school sports programs with post-season aspirations and this year is no different as several teams and individuals in Osceola County have their site set on both regional and state competition.
Here is a look at the postseason action.
BOYS WEIGHTLIFTING — St. Cloud, one of the state’s top programs under coach Cory Aun, continued its impressive season winning regional titles in both the Traditional (bench press, clean-and-jerk) and Olympic (clean-and-jerk, snatch) disciplines. The Bulldogs (72 team points) bested Harmony (34) and Poinciana (18) to capture both team competitions.
Dual gold medalists from St. Cloud Jayden Green-Alemany (129-pound weight class), Jason Isapharich (139) and Jaden Perez (183) automatically advance in both disciplines, while Ayden Lopez (119-Traditional), Demetrius Hollingsworth (154-Traditional) and Gilbert Chase (199-Olympic), also go as regional champions. Other Oceola County lifters to win regional championships include Celebration’s George Taruru (219-Traditional) and Harmony’s Ngo Benjamin (159-Olympic) and Barry Brice (169-Olympic) also earn automatic advancement to states. Green-Alemany (Traditional) and Isapharich (Olympic) earned the meet’s MVP awards.
Counting at-large representatives, Aun will take 10 athletes to the FHSAA State Championships in Lakeland May 6-8.
TRACK AND FIELD — The Osceola Lady Kowboys and the Gateway Panther boys each won district titles. The county will be sending a large contingent of competitors to the 4A-2 and 3A-2 regional meets Saturday at Lakeland George Jenkins.
The top two performers in each event will automatically advance to the state championship meet at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville May 8-9.
Last Friday, the Lady Kowboys won eight individual events and two relays to amass 205 points and nearly double up on second place Harmony (117) and third place St. Cloud (116). Tohopekaliga finished 7th and Poinciana was 8th. In the boys’ competition, Viera (140) defended its team championship while St. Cloud (113) was second, Harmony (84.5) was fifth and Osceola (59) seventh; Tohopekaliga eighth (47) and Poinciana ninth (1).
On Saturday, Gateway used a strong performance in the field events to run away with the 3A-7 meet at Lake Region. The Panthers tallied 185 points for the win while the Lady Panthers (116) finished third Several local coaches believe they have several athletes who should qualify for states. Osceola jumpers Cheyenne Price, Nicole Oliveira, and Korbyn Jones join sprinter Ziannah Gooden and hurdler Allana Smith as Osceola hopefuls to advance; while coach Eric Pinellas believes both his 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams could advance.
St. Cloud coach Kevin Harkema believes middle distance star Kyla Perez (800 and 1600 meters) and boys hurdler Denzel Hawkins could advance in multiple events while Brooke Bonesteele is strong in the pole vault. Maxwell Garcon (triple jump, long jump, high jump) and Emile Amtle (pole vault, long jump, triple jump and javelin) each qualified for regionals in multiple events and combined to score 62 of Gateway’s 185 team points.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL— top seeded Harmony (20-3) took down Cypress Creek Friday, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19 to win the District 3A-6. Senior Oliver Benken (214 kills) and junior Jameson Benken (107 kills, 39 aces, 328 assists) have had outstanding seasons for coach Ryan Kading’s team. The Longhorns Harmony, the number 3 seed in Region 2, took on Celebration Wednesday in the a regional quarterfinal Wednesday. The winner advances to face the winner of the Horizon/Lake Nona match in a May 5 semifinal.
TENNIS— Celebration’s boys tennis dispatched both Strawberry Crest (7-0) and Newsome (5-2) in last week’s regional competition to reach the FHSAA State Championships this week at Sanlando Park in Seminole County. The Storm girls team came up one point short of joining the boys, losing to Newsome in the regional final, 4-3. Sofia Morillo, who won a regional singles title for Celebration, advanced to the state championship in the individual bracket.
