There was a changing of the guard in Osceola County cross country, as the St. Cloud Bulldogs won both the boys’ and girls’ team title at the Orange Belt Conference Championships Wednesday at Austin Tindall Park.
St. Cloud (46 points) used a 1-2 finish from Lailana Decker and Kyla Perez to outdistance 2023 champion Celebration (54 points) and Harmony (56) and claim the girls cross country team championship. It was the Bulldogs ninth title since 2010, but their first since 2017.
The Bulldog boys placed five runners in the top nine, scoring an exceptional 25 points to easily out-distance Celebration (62), Gateway (77), and Harmony (86). Three-time defending champion Tohopekaliga (2021-23) was a distant fifth (106).
Decker and Poinciana’s Levi Lee won individual titles for a second consecutive year. Decker, who ran her first three years at Harmony before transferring to St. Cloud last summer, covered the 5K course in 20:17.87 – winning over 30 seconds.
Although St. Cloud’s 1-2 finish gave it a big advantage, it was the performance of the rest of the team that made the real difference for the team title. The Lady Bulldogs got a seventh place finish from Jade Shroyer (22:34.13), a 16th from Caitlyn Matchak (23:57.22) and a 20th from Ahryanna Garay-Torres (24:51).
“Lailana and Kyla were really important but it really was a total team effort. We needed the other girls to come through and they did so in a big way for us today,” St. Cloud coach Kevin Harkema said.
Decker, Perez and Shoyer were joined on the All-Orange Belt Conference team by Celebration’s Claire Reburn (3rd) and Evelyn Juden (5th); Harmony’s Elsmarie Nunez (4th) and Miranda Diaz-Morales (8th); and Osceola’s Mia Gonzalez-Nunez (6th).
Although he was happy to win his second consecutive boys OBC Championship in 16:57.65; Lee wanted to praise the competition rather than talk about his efforts.
“It was not an easy race by any stretch of the imagination,” Lee said. “I started getting a stitch in my side early and really didn’t feel comfortable the entire time. Isaiah (Casiano) and Adon (Elienist) were really pushing me throughout the entire race. I wasn’t able to pull away until the end. Big props to Isaiah for his second place, he ran an awesome race.”
It was St. Cloud’s depth that made the real difference in the boys’ team championship. Casiano was second in 17:04.66 and Elienist was third in 17:23.41 but the Bulldogs also had Silas Corchado (7th) and Jonathan Araya (8th). Brody Ansbaugh, who has been battling illness for more than a month, was 9th among team scoring as St. Cloud placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 10.
“It was a great day for St. Cloud cross country,” Bulldogs coach Kevin Harkema said. “The boys race sort of went like we expected but we really needed some big finishes on the girls’ side and they came through. Lailana Decker and Kyla Perez set the tone for sure but our other girls really fought hard and came up big.”
Osceola will host the 4A, District 3 meet on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8 a.m. All county schools will participate in the meet, except Gateway – which will run in the Class 3A, District 4 meet at Satellite High School on Oct. 31. The top four teams in each district, as well as the top runners from non-qualifying teams, advance to regional competition the following week.
“Right now our boys’ team is ranked No. 4 in the district and we should be able to advance to regionals,” Harkema added. “Our girls are currently ranked eighth, so they will have their work cut out for them.”
In the junior varsity OBC meet, Celebration (girls) and St. Cloud (boys) won team titles; with Tohopekaliga’s Kyle Guttierrez winning the boys’ race and the Storm’s Ava Dragon taking the girls’ race.
St. Cloud, which has desperately wanted to break Harmony’s three-year run as OBC All-Sports Champions, ended up with a huge week. The double cross country title, combined with the boys and girls golf championships won earlier in the week – gave the Bulldogs 28 of a possible 28 points for the four OBC crowns contested this week.
