All the area teams met up for Bulldog Palooza (St. Cloud Invitational) in St Cloud on a wet course. The ladies, except Grace Miller of St. Cloud who finished first, got to see a top tier Timber Creek girls team dominate, while the boys watched an equally impressive Liberty team do virtually the same thing. Many Central Florida teams had to adjust practice due to the typical afternoon thunderstorms that seem to hit right about this time. Most coaches will claim they enjoy the sloppy conditions, feeling that it might give someone an edge. The truth though (in my opinion) is that noone enjoys rain when competing, nor do they like running in mud, and leaping over large puddles is not the fastest way around a course. A large majority of camera owners will admit its not really fun either. A productive weekend saw almost everyone that raced this weekend improve upon their season's best time. Enough on the sloppy race conditions though, the weekend has passed and we are now gearing up for FLR 15, the most competitive meet in Florida by far.
Celebration
Top lady Christine Infantolino is ranked 7th in the conference and could be on the outside on making the all county team for a third consecutive year. They were planning on making the short trip to Poinciana on Wednesday for the Mal Harpell Invite, but that event has been postponed until October 8th.
Gateway
Sophmore Samuel Espada has emerged as the top runner and has some upside with his 18 minute effort at the St. Cloud Invitational that earned him 7th place. Gateway will be among the many team in Titusville this weekend.
Harmony
This feisty group will be the biggest challenger to the incumbent conference champions.Team leaders Canyon Huff and Adalyn Gaston are the most likely candidates to break up the potential perfect scores brewing for Liberty and St Cloud. They will also travel to Titusville for this weekend's festivities.
Liberty -- Coach Pauley likes to remind his group that the biggest hurdle will be themselves as this season progresses. Araiza continues to lead, but his teammates want that chance too. Those teammates continue to jostle for position as well, with Justin Corinealdi taking up the 2nd spot this week. These guys will be compete in Avon Park on Saturday.
Osceola
Sophmore Paul McCrimon led nearly the entire way for OHS until teammate Edwin Estrella realized what was happening and made his move to the front. They were also planning on attending the Mal Harpell Invite on Wednesday.
Poinciana
The Eagles arent getting the times needed to be real competitive, but there were a pile a runners comepting this weekend, so there is something to look forward to as the season moves on. They will host the 1st annual Mal Harpel Invitational next Wednesday.
St Cloud -- While the St. Cloud girls are doing well, injuries could affect the team moving forward. The boys however are making progress. Freshman Tristen Montalvo is getting better each week and could be a nice building block for the Bulldogs future. They were schedule to compete on Wednesday and again on Friday evening in Titusville, but will now focus solely on FLR15.
Love it or leave it, Donald Lamb is a regular contibutor to Flrunners.com as a photographer, videographer & blogger. He is a devoted area coach, who is working hard to help the local running community.