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Defending girls champion Karolyna Adams will lead a deep St. Cloud team into next month’s Orange Belt Conference Championship. SUBMITTED PHOTO
When the 2023 Orange Belt Conference Golf Championships are held next week, the St. Cloud Lady Bulldogs will be highly favored to win their seventh straight championship; but on the boys’ side the Celebration Storm appear poised to have an opportunity to break the Bulldogs’ four-title run.
The boys (Monday) and girls (Tuesday) tournaments will be held at Royal St. Cloud starting at 8 a.m.
Last year, St. Cloud became the first school in Osceola County history to qualify both its boys and girls teams for the state championship in the same year.
And while the girls’ team is off to a dominating start to the 2023 season, the Celebration boys’ team has served notice that they expect to challenge for the boys title by virtue of a pair of match wins over the Bulldogs earlier this season.
The Celebration boys have exhibited the depth that was a St. Cloud trademark last year, with five golfers who can routinely break 40 — seniors Will Cooper, George Aguilera, Jeremiah Bianchi, and Ethan Badillo and sophomore Braden Plaisted.
In a match against St. Cloud and Gateway, the Storm posted an impressive two-over par 146.
St. Cloud returns three of its top players from last year: senior Alexander Owen (38.7 stroke average), Espn Pool (37.2) and Ethan Parish (37.2). Blake Butler (48) and Mohammad Elkafir (48) are the top newcomers.
“Defending our OBC championship will not be easy, but with a good performance, it is certainly in reach.” first-year St. Cloud coach Dylan Rensel Tohopekaliga and Harmony are expected to battle for third place on the boys’ side. Sophomore Marcel Moran (39) is a candidate for All-OBC honors for Tohopekaliga; while seniors Tyler Sheffield (42) and Jason Barrientos (45) have shown the ability to routinely break 45.
Junior Cesar Gandia is Harmony’s top player; freshman Mason Collier has been playing at the number two spot.
“The Longhorns have a good mix of veterans and newcomers,” Harmony boys coach Jason Wright said.
On the girls’ side. St. Cloud once again appears dominant. First-year coach Alejandro Sanchez has five of the top 15 girls in District 6, including defending OBC champion, sophomore Karolyna Adams who ranks seventh in the district with a 39.2 scoring average. In all, St. Cloud has four other golfers ranked: senior Cayden Challacombe (38.8), freshman Maddie Burda (40.7), senior Tess Shieve (-42.2) and senior Nadia Burda (44.7).
The Lady Bulldogs are 4-1 in dual meet play this year, with their only loss coming by four strokes to state power Lake Nona (165169) and they also won their own invitational – topping a solid field that included Dr. Phillips, Lakeland, Viera and Windermere.
Celebration lost many of its top players to graduation and is in a rebuilding mode this season. Its top four players are underclassmen, with freshman Layla Link is the Storm’s top player. Harmony will most likely be in the hunt for second place at OBC’s. There top players include junior Aryana Persaud (45 scoring average) and seniors Bryanna White and Allyson White.
