Team and individual title will be on the line next week when St. Cloud High hosts the 2022 Orange Belt Conference cross country championships Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Harmony’s girls and Tohopekaliga’s boys are the defending team champions, but neither is assured of a repeat performance. Most county teams participated in the season-opening Kowboys Invitational on Aug. 27, where the Storm won both the boys’ and girls’ team races.
Celebration (122) placed three runners (Cooper James, Sebastain Velez, and Jakobe Vongphrachanh) in the top 25 to outdistance Tohopekaliga (155), Harmony (250), Gateway (351) and St. Cloud (357). Individually, Harmony’s Joel Jean (16:39.1), one of the favorites for the individual title Wednesday, won the Kowboys’ event. Tohopekaliga, who narrowly beat Celebration for the OBC title when a sixth runner’s score broke a tie, placed two runners in the top 10 with a third-place finish by Javan Medina (17:01.35) and a sixth by Zaniel Lizardo (17:25.85).
The Storm’s overall depth paid off on the girls’ side as 2021 ONG Runner of the Year Catalina Edwards (19:56) and Gabriella DeCesare (22:44) placed 12th and 19th to lead Celebration to a low score of 166 and a sixth place finish in the meet. Harmony (207) was ninth, St. Cloud (262) tenth and Tohopekaliga (342) was 13th in the 25-team event. Individually, Harmony’s Lailana Decker (fourth, 19:56) was the top overall runner among county schools.
Celebration competed in the Florida Horse Park Invitational on Sept. 3. One of the most competitive regular-season meets in the state, James and Evan Amaya were the top two individual finishers for the Storm, placing 36th and 37th. The Storm boys had an impressive second place finish at the 12th Hawks On the Hill Invitational in Clermont on Sept. 10. Amaya (2nd-16:50), James (5th- 17:11) and Valez (18th – 22:20) led the Storm.
Most county teams participated in the St. Cloud Bulldogs Invitational on Sept. 10. The Tohopekaliga boys (111) ran away with the team championship; while county schools Harmony (190) placed 9th and host St. Cloud (278) was 11th. Harmony’s Jean (16:21) was second overall; while Tohopekaliga placed two runners in the top 10 with a sixth-place finish from Zaniel Lizardo (16:21) and eighth-place finish by Javan Medina (17:20). Finishing eighth, St. Cloud (222) was the top county team on the girls’ side. Harmony (251) was tenth and Tohopekaliga (261) was 13th. Harmony’s Decker was the top county finisher with a fifth place showing in 21:06.
Osceola, which did not field a full team, has two runners in the top 20 with Nicole Salcedo (21:57) and Mia Gonzalez-Nunez (22:10) placing 14th and 15th; St. Cloud placed Hanna Kline (27th), Angela Lopez (44th) and Kaitlyn Harkema (45) in the top 50.
