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Harmony junior Lailana Decker will try to defend her OBC girls individual championship and help Harmony reclaim the team title. PHOTO/BRANDON MILES-MILESPLIT
For the past couple of seasons, Celebration’s Catalina Edwards and Evan Amaya, Tohopekaliga’s Johan Comacho, Javan Medina and Zeniel Lizardo, and Harmony’s Joel Jean dominated the county’s cross country scene. Those standouts have graduated and although Celebration, Harmony and Tohopekaliga could continue their county dominance this season, they will have to do so with new faces in 2023.
The Storm, who broke Harmony’s four-year stranglehold on the OBC crown last year, looks to repeat with a young team that includes freshmen Claire Reburn and Serena Santiago. Reburn finished seventh in the Kowboy Invitational last week in pacing the Storm to a ninth place team finish – the highest of all Osceola County Schools. Juniors Carly Robbins and Marissa McNiell give the Storm a solid nucleus for 2023.
Expect Harmony to present a strong challenge. The Lady Longhorns return All-OBC junior track and cross country star Lailana Decker, who was a solid 17th place fat the Kowboy Invitational and will anchor a squad that includes Kate Ussery, Maria Torres, Alissa Santacruz and freshmen Cadence Edwards, Miranda Diaz, Lily Ashley and Hailey De Meglio.
“Our younger runners are fiercely competing for top spots on our roster and that will certainly make us more competitive as a team,” Longhorns coach Shasta Edwards said.
One team on the rise is Kevin Harkema’s St. Cloud Bulldogs. Jada Shoyer is coming off a solid track season where she placed fourth in 3200 meter run at OBCs. Seniors Hannah Kline and Izabell Reichard provide leadership and sophomore Kyla Perez and Jalissa Yarborough could be primed for break out seasons.
“We have some experience and some depth and we believe we are ready to make a run at the OBC championship,” Harkema said.
A rebuilding Tohopekaliga squad led by senior Naomi Polete-Ortiz will anchor the Tigers roster. Sophomore Marley Minier will contribute.
Depth remains an issue at Osceola, but the Kowboys return two solid competitors in Kayara Rodriguez and Mia Gonzalez-Nunez, who earned All-OBC last year.
“We continue to build our program and have generated our highest number of participants in recent years,” coach Justin Lesniewski said.
On the boys’ side, reigning OBC champs Tohopekaliga got off to a good start at the Kowboys Invitational, finishing ahead of all county competition. The Tigers return Marc Rodriguez, the top (39th – 17:43.05). Seniors Nikolas Boone, Jared Lopez and Anthony Allen and sophomore Cameron Ford form the nucleus of the Tigers’ 2023 team.
The OBC boys championship went to a tiebreaker in each of the last two years with Celebration losing to the Tohopekaliga each time. Brother Jakobe (senior) and Malachi Vongphrachanh and senior Sebastian Valez will lead the Storm in 2023.
Returning St. Cloud standouts Silas Corchado and Isaiah Casiano will be joined by a talented group of newcomers including freshmen Brody Ansbaugh and Edwin Echeverry, two of the top three finishers at last year’s OBC Middle School Championships.
“This year’s team is young but by the time the OBC Championship arrives, we hope to surprise some teams,” Harkema said.
Seniors Anakin Barbour and Zach Smith will anchor the Longhorns. They will rely on newcomers Jonathan Cosmo and Bryon Burson to boost its roster.
“As with the girls team, we have a nice mixture of upper classmen and talented newcomers,” Coach Debra Richardson said. “We have so many talented newcomers it may take the better part of a season to see how our lineup shakes out.”
In the early part of the season, Osceola’s Ethan Ortiz and Matt Bicovny are the tops runners for the Kowboys; while senior Sawyer Sullivan and Einar Iglesias are Gateway’s top competitors. Poinciana has two solid runners returning in Levi Lee and Felipe Torres.
The OBC races will be contested Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. at St. Cloud High School.
