It came down to overtime again, but this time with a twist, before Tohopekaliga’s boys cross country team came away with their second consecutive Orange Belt Conference Championship Wednesday afternoon at St. Cloud High School.
Last season, Coach Matt Fenn’s team won just the second OBC team championship in school history when the Tigers tied for with Celebration with 34 points. The tie-breaking sixth Tohopekaliga runner crossed the line before the next Celebration runner did to secure the team title.
That was nothing compared to Wednesday, when it appeared Celebration had won the meet with a team score of 45, edging Tohopekaliga’s 46. However, a runner from another school ended up being disqualified from the meet when he advertently ran a loop in the race in the wrong direction.
That disqualification moved Tohopekaliga’s Darwin Vega up one position 17th, which reduced Tohopekaliga’s team score to 45 – tying Celebration. Like last year, the tie was broken by the sixth runner and Tohopekaliga’s Marc Rodriguez (18th place overall) was six places higher than Celebration’s Matias Edwards (24).
“Given the amount of talent we lost to graduation and how this team continues to improve each week, we’re happy for the win,” Fenn said. “Still, we certainly feel for Celebration and their team. A runner from another team made a mistake and we ended up getting a break from it. Celebration ran a great race and certainly should consider themselves champions too.”
Tohopekaliga placed three runners in the top 10. Zeniel Lizardo (9:17:00) led the way with a third place finish. Javan Medina (17:06.28) and Johan Caamacho (17:35.57) finished fourth and sixth overall.
Harmony senior Joel Jean – who finished second to two-time champion Jared Falchook the previous two years – ran away with individual honors at 16:26.08 .
“I’ve been waiting for this for two years,” Jean said of his win. “I was able to break away fairly early and I get really comfortable when I am able to get out front alone. For some reason I just seem to be able to focus better.”
His time was nearly 22 seconds faster than second-place Evan Amaya from Celebration (16:48.39). Cooper James (17:43.39) and Sebastian Velez (18:04.18) also turned in top 10 performances for the Storm.
The top eight runners earn All-Conference honors. Joining Jean, Amaya, Lizardo, Medina, Camacho, and James on the All-OBC team were Poinciana runners Levi Lee (5th-17:20.89) and Gabriel Arce (8th-17:51.41).
Harmony finished in third (87); followed by Poinciana (103), Gateway (130), St. Cloud (164), Liberty (186) and Osceola (215).
There was no such drama in the girls’ race, as Celebration placed three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 15 to secure a 43-53 win over Harmony. The Storm’s win snapped the four-year reign of the Longhorns.
“It’s great to finally come out on top. Harmony is always such a good team and we love competing against them. Going in, we knew it was going to be close and we knew we had to run a good race. To finally win the OBC championship is a testament to a total team effort,” Storm Girls Coach David Rains said.
Freshman Gabriella DeCesare was the top Storm runner, placing second overall in 20:42.22. Catalina Edwards, who won the individual title last year, was third in 21:19.33; while other counting scores came from Marissa McNiell (9th-23:18.73), Piper Morgan (14th-24:14.49) and Shayma Maldar (15th-24:20.56).
Harmony’s outstanding sophomore Lailana Decker, who finished second to Edwards in last year’s race, dominated in winning her first OBC cross country title. He time of 19:50.75 was more than 50 seconds faster than DeCesare.
“It was a lot of fun and a good run for me,” Decker said. “I was able to pull away at the start of the third mile and just sort of put it on cruise control. The important thing is to keep peaking for the post-season.”
Joining Decker, DeCesare, and Edwards on the All-OBC team where a pair of Osceola runners as Mia Gonzales-Nunez (21:20.96) and Nicole Salcedo (21:22.55) finished fourth and fifth. Others earning All-OBC honors include Gateway’s Isabella Halk (6th-22:58.18), St. Cloud’s Kaitlyn Harkema (7th- 23:09.84) and Tohopekaliga’s Naomi Polette-Ortiz (8th-23:17.07).
Trailing Celebration and Harmony in the team race was St. Cloud (80) in third, Tohopekaliga (4th-107), Osceola (5th-109) and Gateway (6th- 127).
Next up for county runners are the FHSAA District meets on Saturday, Oct. 22. Osceola will host the Class 4A, District 5 meet that will include Tohopekaliga, Celebration, Harmony, Poinciana and St. Cloud.
Gateway and Liberty runners will participate in Class 3A, District 3 meet at Winter Springs High School.
