Saturday morning at West Orange High School, following the end of the 4A District 3 meet, the boys and girls runners of district 4 stepped up to the challenging course of West Orange that consists of many twists and turns around the forest that surrounds the school. As the weather started to warm up after a chilly morning, the girls took to the start line for their 5k race. The pace was strong for many girls who stayed at the front for the first 400 meters, but by the end of the first mile, it was clearly a one on one battle between Cypress Creek’s Kaley Schmick and Charlotte Stephens of Winter Park. They stuck together and pushed each other all the way through until there was only half a mile left. With such a short amount to go, Schmick took over and left Stephens behind, giving the Cypress Creek freshmen the individual 4A District 4 title with her time of 18:57.64. Stephens came in about 10 seconds later at 19:07.40. Colonial High School’s girls snuck their top 5 into the 3-4-7-8-11 spots, allowing their team to defeat Winter Park 33-45 for the team district title. Cypress Creek and Timber Creek will join these two teams next week in the regional championships.
Following the completion of the girls’ race, the boys’ teams, including likely state title contender Colonial High School, stood at the line and awaited the gun shot to signal the start of the race. Out in front from the very beginning were Billy Anguish of Winter Park and Colonial’s Andres Arroyo. Arroyo dictated the pace and dared Anguish to hold on, but by the second mile it was clear that Arroyo took a dominant lead that could not be taken away from him. Arroyo rushed in for the win in 15:05.22 followed by Anguish in 15:20.85. Colonial’s impressive 1-3-5-6-7 finishes for their top five gave them an easy team district title over Winter Park 22-46. Colonial put their team average under 16 minutes with an exact average of 15:59.29, placing them among the top teams in the state. Liberty and Timber Creek will join Colonial and Winter Park at the regional championships.