In all my years of watching sports, this was one of the most exciting weekends I can remember. Most of us spent the morning in Titusville at the FLRunners Invite and then hopefully found some time to watch some great college football afterwards. The Race of Champions set some teams apart, as some rose to the challenge and others couldn’t overcome the mud. It was a thrilling race to watch as Ryan Rodriguez joins the cast of Belen stars as the ROC champ. The ladies are watching a potenial dynasty in the making as Pine Crest takes the title and are led by a middle schooler in Tsion Yared. Now on to what happened here in Osceola County.
Celebration –They did not compete this week and will attend the rescheduled Mal Harpell Invite at Poinciana on Wednesday and then in Clermont Saturday morning for the Clermont City Classic at Lake Minneola HS.
Gateway – They did not compete this week, but will get things moving again by joining Celebration and Poinciana at the Clermont City Classic.
Harmony – The Longhorns traveled to Titusville and took part in the large school races on Saturday. The highlight of the day being Canyon Huff, as he took 6th. Harmony is going to join Liberty on Friday afternoon at the Wide World of Sports for the races there.The cooler fall weather won't do much to dry up that course though, as the back fields are a muddy mess.
Liberty – What a whirlwind week these guys had. The Poinciana meet on Wednesday was cancelled, so they get a call from Jason Byrne himself to run in the ROC. Problem there is they would have to cancel their trip to Sebring to run the district course. The team thought the personal invite was too hard to pass up, so FLR it was. In hindsight, it could be the highlight of the season, as they took 3rd and go home with one of the coveted metal trophies. Rogelio Araiza was 6th with a season best time of 16:23. Coach Pauley compared that to the runner up finish the track team had at Bob Hayes last spring. A big accomplishment moving forward through the season as they gain momentum in an attempt for a first ever team trip to the state finals.
Interview: Rogelio Araiza - Post Race
Osceola – The Kowboys didn’t run this weekend, but will race in the rescheduled Poinciana race Wednesday. The will head over to Brandon to run in the Don Bishop Invitational for the weekend race where a strong field of teams awaits them.
Poinciana –They did not compete this weekend, but we try for round two of the 1st annual Mal Harpel Invitational this Wednesday. They will travel to Clermont on Saturday for the Clermont City Classic.
St Cloud – They traveled to Titusville and raced on Friday evening before the rain hit. They competed in the large school meet and finished second. Grace Miller was the individual runner-up coming in at 20:14. Still battling some injuries, they performed well as a team with some younger runners filling in nicely. As far as season best times are concerned, the district meet will be decided by just a few points between the Bulldogs of George Jenkins from neighboring Polk County.
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.