The season is just over halfway done. Only a few more regular season weekends remain before the conference championships start. Following that is the always exciting state series as teams make their march toward Tallahassee. A simple chance to run at the state meet is a goal for some schools, while others expect to be there and leave with a trophy. The final month lies before us all, stay healthy and enjoy the ride.
St. Cloud, Harmony and Liberty traveled to Titusville for a weekend friendly with 4000 other runners. It wasn’t crowded at all. Osceola County had representatives in four different races including the prestigious Race of Champions. The St. Cloud girls did considerably well when you take account of who they were matched up against. They averaged a 21:02 which would have been 5th or better in every other race. Rogelio Araiza led his Liberty squad in the Unseeded A race to a 2nd place finish. He ran his best time this season, coming in at 17:03.
News & Notes
St Cloud is hosting the St Cloud Invitational this weekend. Joining them will be Gateway, Liberty, Poinciana and Harmony.
Osceola will be at the Don Bishop Invitational in Brandon.
Celebration will be at the Mt Dora bible Invitational in Mt Dora.
OBC Preview & Beyond
A girl from St. Cloud will likely be the OBC winner. Grace Miller was oh so close to catching Karissa this weekend in Titusville. Octavia faded a little bit today, but hopefully she will have all the kinks worked out when the playoffs start in a few weeks.
Rogelio Araiza ran a season best this weekend, but he didn’t look his best in doing it. The course was soggy and crowded. He should be good to go on a fresh course and nothing but the lead cart in front at Poinciana.
As for the team titles… St. Cloud girls…. The excitement here (in my opinion) will be if they can get a perfect score. Can the top runner from Liberty, Osceola, Celebration or Harmony get into that group?
The boys race will be a tight one. When comparing each runner’s seasons best… St. Cloud comes out ahead. If you use this weekend at FLR as a barometer, St. Cloud could have a razor slight edge. STC ran in a different race than Harmony and Liberty. Harmony can break things up a bit and will make it interesting for sure, they have a solid top three. Liberty is now officially in the mix and a contender after a solid weekend of racing.
State Series Early Preview:
District Level – Team – St Cloud’s girls will battle with George Jenkins (Polk Country) for the 4A D2 crown. Liberty’s boy’s are looking real good in 3A D8. They will face off against Sebring (Highlands County).
District Level – Individual – Araiza (LIB) & Ferrieria (STC) have the best shot to win a district title for the boys. The top 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 an individual district title.
Harmony:
Harmony competed in the Flrunnners.com invitational in Titusville. The boys were led by their usual duo of Jose Loredo & Jacob Gilbert. They took 13th as a team, but were without Canyon Huff (see below) who is typically their #3 runner. Rebecca Ouellette led the girls with a 22:40.
I caught up with Coach DePascale after the race, he had this to say “I feel confident after this week at FLR, even though we did not have our best performance, they we will be ready, healthy and very competitive in the upcoming OBC’s and state series.”
“Canyon is in good health, and was just unable to make it to the meet this week. We will be running both boys and girls at The St Cloud meet this weekend, but most of the varsity boys will not be in attendance do to the SAT test that day.”
One member of the Longhorns even showed off her dancing skills at FLR14. Next up, the St. Cloud Invitational.
St Cloud:
St Cloud competed in the Flrunnners.com invitational in Titusville. The girls earned a spot in the Race of Champions. They took 24th, but with a respectable 21:02 average. The boys competed in the Invitational, the next tier below the ROC. Their team average of 18:12 is the best thus far. I had a chance to talk with Coach Harkema to talk about their performance, but in all honesty, it was pouring rain, our focus was really just waiting for the ran to let up.
After months of deciding what race to attend this weekend, St. Cloud decided to stay local and run in its invitational.
Gateway:
Gateway did not compete this weekend. They will be at the St. Cloud Invitational in St. Cloud this upcoming weekend.
Celebration:
Celebration did not compete this weekend. They will be at the Mt. Dora Bible Invitational in Mt Dora this upcoming weekend.
Liberty:
Liberty competed in the Flrunnners.com invitational in Titusville. The boys competed in the unseeded A race, the 3rd tier below the ROC & invitational. They had one of the best races as a team by far this season. Some of the guys have been there only a few weeks and are really learning to race. They took 2nd as a team with a team average of 18:07.
Coach Pauley had a few words to share “Our men ran well this weekend at the Flrunners Invitational. They finally started to run a race like they do the workouts, HARD! To finish second was a surprise, but a great accomplishment for this very young team of runners who have never ran. I knew at the two mile we were looking good as we had five in the top 50. I was very impressed with Deshaun Jennings running a great PR along with the rest of the team. Ryan Yarde is getting better each week and he ran a great race. Jason Roseme and Tim Cacres along with Dedrick Jennings also ran well. Even our guys out of the top seven ran well. We haven’t backed off yet and we are continuing pounding the legs so that is great news for us. Along as we stay healthy we should get better each week.
The men’s team is looking forward to the St. Cloud Invitational this Saturday. We need to start to push continually together as we are gearing up for the championships. Coach Harkema always puts on a great race, whether it is track or cross country so I know the meet will be ran well and we are looking forward to it”
They will be at the St. Cloud Invitational in St. Cloud this upcoming weekend.
Poinciana:
Poinciana did not compete this weekend. They will be at the St. Cloud Invitational in St. Cloud this upcoming weekend.
Osceola:
Osceola did not compete this weekend. They will be at the Don Bishop Invitational in Brandon this upcoming weekend.
Coach Maldonado did have a few words for us though “Our team is getting better every day. I am proud of how we compete and hopefully we can put ourselves in position to compete for OBCs and the post season".
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