By J. Daniel Pearson
For the News-Gazette
Celebration
The Lady Storm won its first district title in school history last year, but lost two of its top five runners to graduation. Still, Coach David Rains returns Catalina Edwards, who finished second in districts, and says nothing has changed as far as expectations for 2021.
“We expect the girls to work hard, push themselves, take pride in their hard work, and give their best every day,” Rains said. “If those components are brought to practice each day, then the results will follow. We expect to be competitive.”
Two incoming freshmen, Gabriella Castro and Gabrielle Owens, could factor in the varsity mix.
The Storm boys’ team is the defending Orange Belt Conference Champions and qualified for the Class 4A state race, where the team placed 17th.Celebration returns an experienced roster, including defending OBC Champion Jared Falchook, who placed 17th in the Class 4A meet last year. The top six runners — Falchook , Cooper James, Justin Quispe, Evan Amay and Sebastian Velez — features just one senior, so the Storm should be solid for the next couple of years.
“We have been sent into a new District (4A-5, which includes Osceola, Tohopekaliga, Harmony, Poinciana and St. Cloud) so we are going to have to adjust to see where we fit in,” Storm Head Coach Gerardo Dorta said. “We feel with our depth we are strong enough to push our way back to the state championship meet.”
Gateway
Both the boys and girls teams from Gateway feature young teams. “We really don’t know what to expect as the turnover for our team is high,” Coach Tane Crossley said. “We are very young and hope to build our program. Our goal is to get either our top runners or our teams into regionals.”
For the boys’ team, top returners include Jassiah Glass (Jr.), Maddux Null (So.), and Luis Alberto Gonzalez (Sr.); top newcomers include freshmen Sebastian Vasquez and Jovani Matos. On the girls’ side the Panthers will feature junior Paulina Botero; with newcomer Elise Echeveria expected to contribute.
Harmony
The Longhorns lost quite a bit of experience last year off both their boys and girls teams. Top returning runners for boys’ squad is junior Joel Jean and senior Alex Ouellette. Jean made the Osceola News Gazette’s All-County Track team in both the 1600 and 3200 meters last spring. Those two should be aided by freshman Aden Clark. The top returning runners for the Lady Longhorns includes defending OBC Champion Alanie Rivera (Sr.), Eliana Halk (Jr.) and Izabell Reichard (So.) and the top newcomer is freshman Lailana Decker. Rivera is the defending Orange Belt Conference Champion and earned All-State honors last year by placing 3rd in the Class 3A State Championship meet in Tallahassee.
“Both the boys' and girls' teams are looking to refresh their rosters after losing several key members,” Harmony Head Coach Shasta Edwards said. “While we have some strong leaders coming back, we are looking at a very young team with a lot of room for growth and opportunity. Moving from 3A to 4A will also provide some unique challenges as we adjust to a new field of competition. Overall, we are optimistic that we can adapt and remain competitive.”
Osceola
Under head coach Donald Lamb, both the boys’ and girls’ program at Osceola are trying to build a program. Seniors Owen Lewis and Joseph Fernandez will lead the Osceola Kowboys in 2021; while freshman Ehtan Ortiz will be a factor. On the girls’ side, Kelliana Mack is the top returning runner.
“We are definitely in a building mode,” Lamb said. “Digital learning put a hurting on getting kids out last season. We have our coaches on campus now and they are helping to get kids out and build our numbers. Our kids are learning the fundamentals of results through work. It is going to be a process but we are making progress.”
St. Cloud
The St. Cloud boys’ team is a senior-laden squad with Johnny MacNab and Jon Ortiz in the running for all conference honors. Other seniors are Kane Brantley, Andres Soto, Jacob Pare, Braxton Ansbaugh and Angelo Gutierrez. Head Coach Kevin Harkema says this team has been through a lot in the past couple of years and hopes to make this a “fun year for the seniors.”
Harkema who is also the girls’ coach, says the Lady Bulldogs are a “work in progress” and hopes to increase the number of runners participating. The lead runner is Tiffany Febus, who is pulling a rare same-season double by also playing volleyball this fall. Harkema added, “Jenni Hernandez is a junior and is working to get better and the only other returner from last year is Gabby Garcia.”
Tohopekaliga
Like many teams in the county, Tohopekaliga finds themselves in the uncertainty of participating in a new district. Girls coach Mindy Hebebrand returns five veteran runners in Amari Whetro, Tiana McPhaul, Brianna Rodriguez, Nicole Gutierrez and Ciara Rivera. Those five will face internal competition from newcomers Angelica Reaume, Jareliz Medina, Alma Perez and Naomi Polete-Ortiz. Whetro earned All-Conference honors last year with a 7th place finish.
“Last year we had eight out of ten runners who have never participated in the sport of cross country,” Hebebrand said. ”Every week we saw huge personal bests as well as earning a spot in the Regional meet. This season we sit in a tough district but with the dedication and hard work these girls put in I believe they'll continue dropping times and be in contention for another Regional spot.”
With a veteran boys team returning including Julian Pomales (Sr.), Johan Camacho (Jr.), Zeniel Lizardo (Jr.), Jayven Garcia (Sr.), and Max Lizardo (Sr.); and the addition of newcomers Javan Medina (Jr.), Josue Brito (Jr.), and Joel Richards (Sr.) head coach Matt Fenn believes the Tigers will have both an experienced and deep team returning in 2021.
“Despite anticipating a challenging field at Regionals, the boys are also planning to qualify for state and crack the top 10 for the first time,”Coach Matt Fenn said. “In addition to several local meets, we are planning on traveling to several outstanding meets around the state Hoka Flrunners.com Invitational in Lakeland and to Tallahassee for the FSU Pre-state Invitational. Both of which will provide valuable big meet experience for our runners.”
Poinciana/Liberty
Neither school had enough participants to field a complete team at last year’s OBC meet. Individuals who raced last year and could return in 2021 on the boys’ side include juniors Gabriel Pace (Poinciana) and Antonio Caro (Liberty). Dinae Hemmings (Sr.) and Asia Antenor (So.) for Poinciana and Nyidjah Ives and Kaylie Collado for Liberty are the girls’ returning letterwinners.
