The cross country season is in high gear as we are a mere four days away from the biggest races this season (thus far) at FLR 14. This past week had some nice meets as well as a precursor to the next few weekends ahead.
Poinciana hosted another small weekday meet that turned out to be pretty competitive. Osceola, Gateway and Liberty joined in to run the OBC course (a very muddy course) on September 18. The ladies were probably excited when they noticed that St. Cloud wasn’t present. It allowed Osceola’s Keilah Vicari to get a win and build some confidence as the season progresses.
The same was true on the boy’s side when Coach Pauley decided Rogelio Araiza would not race. He is moving toward a new aspect of training this week in preparation for Jim Ryun & Flrunners. Deshaun Jennings battled Edwin Estrella of Osceola the entire race but pulled away the last quarter mile to take the victory. He led Liberty to another team victory (not as surprising this week) with 29 points. As the season moves on, Liberty is beginning to assert themselves as a contender for the OBC championships, which are now just three weeks away.
Liberty and Celebration traveled to Holloway Park in Lakeland for the Jim Ryun invitational. The wave races had people confused at first, but I think it worked out to be a pretty cool idea. Those runners who are not your top talent had the chance to win their wave, which can be a huge confidence booster as the season progresses. The course was much improved compared to last year, there was a lot more grass as opposed to the sand that hounded people last year. Holloway Park is an excellent venue for hosting events. Hello future state meet site?
Osceola , Gateway, & St. Cloud were in Winter Springs at the Overbay-Monte Carlo invitational. Several top Orlando area teams competed to make this an exciting meet. The St. Cloud Ladies made a strong appearance and took 2nd. That performance might be just what they needed to motivate them for the remainder of the season and help them achieve their goals. Brandon Marquez continues to shine as he marches toward Tallahassee on November 9. He thumped the field with a state #2 of 15:17.
News & Notes
Liberty , Harmony, & St Cloud are going to be at the FLrunners.com races in Titusville.
Gateway, Osceola, Celebration & Poinciana do not have any meets scheduled for this weekend.
OBC Preview & Beyond
Karissa Solorzano is proving to be the favorite, but after each meet, a new challenger seemingly arises. Most interestingly though is the fact it’s on the same team. This week Grace Miller finished just 16 second back, while Octavia was 36 seconds back.
Rogelio Araiza has beat all of his potential challengers head to head, but the numbers say it should be much closer. Araiza was better than Harvey Ferriera (STC) twice (Harmony Invitational & Poinciana Invitational). He finished ahead of Justin Corinealdi (CELE) two times as well (Harmony Invitational & Jim Ryun). He was 30 seconds better than than Loredo & Gilbert (HAR) at their home invitational back in August.
As for the team titles… St. Cloud is improving each week as we get closer and closer. On the boy’s end, Harmony & St. Cloud are still the frontrunners, but Liberty is coming up fast. Different courses make for different times, which can easily cloud ones judgment. We will get a good preview next week when all three of thee squads go to Titusville for FLR 14, an equal course makes for comparable times.
State Series Early Preview:
District Level – Team – St Cloud’s girls will have their hands full, but could finish the season as the only district champion from Osceola County. Most teams should advance out of the district rounds or at least have some representatives in the regional round.
District Level – Individual – Araiza (LIB) & Ferrieria (STC) have the best shot to win a district title for the boys. The top three girls from St Cloud will be running each step with George Jenkins for every spot. It is really a matter of who is having the best day to win the coveted district title.
Regional Level – Team – The St Cloud girls appear to be the lone team that will advance to the state meet. A lot can change in the coming weeks, but the crystal ball looks dim for most area teams.
Regional Level – Individual – Does this sound familiar… Araiza & Ferriera have work to do, but can likely crack the top 15 top advance. The STC girls will likely go as a team, but if not, Solorzano, Miller, and Octavia are all currently ranked in the top 15 from their region.
Harmony:
They did not have a meet scheduled for this week. They will be competing at FLR 14 next Saturday.
St Cloud:
The entire squad went to Winter Springs for the Overbay-Monte Carlo Invitational. Coach Harkema was pleased with another great day from his group. His girls were 2nd as Karissa Solorzano (19:43) took 4th overall. The boys took 11th and were led again by Harvey Ferriera (17:16).
“We ran great today, The girls finished runner up today to Dr Phillips by beating some good team like Timber Creek & Winter Springs. Karissa ran a PR today of 19:43, which earned her 4th! She is getting stronger each week. She is a great leader and is so uplifting to the other girls. Grace Miller ran a spectacular 19:59 and is becoming someone I can count on each week. Octavia looked good up until the last ¾ miles and faded to finish at 20:17. Devin & Kim also had a great race today, each running a PR. Our top JV girl was freshman Kayla Jensen. They are coming together more as a team as the girls keep fighting to get better and better. They have their sights and aspirations on qualifying for the state meet. The boys were short two of the top five but those who filled in stepped up nicely. Harvey led with 17:17, but Chris Rodriguez and Keith Butner filled in nicely to compliment Matt and Devin. They keep improving each week and it’s about the consistency in their training to keep going. I believe we have a lot of potential and have a lot more improvement to go. I was pleased with how all my athletes fought today to get better as runners and I am excited about the next few weeks.”
St. Cloud is participating the coveted Race of Champions at FLR 14 next week before hosting their own 25 team race on October 5th.
Gateway:
They also went to Winter Springs for the Overbay-Monte Carlo Invitational. The boys took 18th and were led by Jose Alvarado with an 18:16.
Coach Cliff Branch had this to say after his team’s performance: “They ran well, the course was nice and the weather was perfect. I had one girl run today because the others were taking the ACT. Victoria Cannon was ill all week, but managed a PR despite stopping twice to catch her breath. The guys were led by Jose Alvarado with an 18:16. Coach Smorin is doing a great job with them.”
Gateway does not have a meet scheduled this week.
Celebration:
They took part in the Jim Ryun Invitational this weekend. The boys took 9th as a team with sophomore Justin Corinealdi leading the way with an 18:08. The girls did not have enough for a team score.
I couldn’t help but notice their lead runner Christine Infantolino wasn’t running. Coach Corey Green had this to say when I asked him what happened “We lost Christine to an injury last Monday. She originally thought she broke her big toe. It was completely black and blue and hurting. Upon going to the doctor it was discovered to be a bad infection. She started on meds and we are hoping to have her back next week for Mt. Dora. It kills her not being able to run, we literally have to watch her at practice to make sure she isn't running. As for the Jim Ryun meet, Our kids loved the format of the meet. We actually had three girls and two boys PR Saturday. I think that was a combination of having a great week of practice last week and the opportunity this week, (with the format) for each runner to shine on their own. I am hoping this leads us into another great week of practice. As we begin the final stretch into OBC’s and the state series meets.
Celebration does not have a meet scheduled this week.
Liberty:
They also took part in the Jim Ryun Invitational. The boys took 7th as a team as Rogelio Araiza led his team with 17:38. No LHS girls ran this weekend.
Coach Pauley had a few thoughts concerning his team “As for our team, we are running slow, we look slow, and we are running slow, your eyes are not wrong when you look at our times (19's for our men just isn't going to cut it). Our workouts are going well on the other hand. We have just been pounding the legs and we are not backing off just yet. These guys are running and lifting weights everyday which will make a difference in late October. We have to gamble with the workouts because everyone but Araiza came in out of shape! So we are still running workouts and not worrying about preparing for regular season races. The courses we have been racing are not that fast. As a coach I am not worried (YET) where we are in the standings of the OBC. This weekend we are all on the same course so that will tell us where we stand.
On the women's side we have two runners left. In this sport you are all in or don't run in my opinion. And we only have two girls who are all in! Yaz Hasse is looking ok. She is playing golf and running cross country so she is doing a great job juggling both sports.”
Liberty will take its boys to FLR 14 this weekend.
A big shout out from Flrunners.com has to go to Zach Arguello for helping with the videos for the Jim Ryun Invite this weekend. He is a great part of our team and a great person to be around. Every team would be better off with a few more guys like him.
Poinciana:
They hosted a small friendly on Wednesday. The ladies won the team title, while the boys were led again by Matthew Luzi. Poinciana does not have a meet scheduled this week.
Osceola:
They also went to Winter Springs for the Overbay-Monte Carlo Invitational. The boys took 17th and were led by Cody Dana with an 18:19. The ladies took 16th as a team and were led by Keilah Vicari who came in at 21:52. Osceola does not have a meet scheduled this week.
Love the article, hate the article, let me know Coach_lamb@yahoo.com.