St. Cloud Sweeps OBC Titles On Home Turf

Orange Belt Conference Championship
Todd Grasley


Schools from around Osceola County headed to St. Cloud High School the host of the 2015 Orange Belt Conference Championship. St. Cloud swept the team competition and proved nobody was getting away with the hardware on their home turf.

In the girls' varsity race Harmony's Vanessa Bolen continued her successful freshman campaign. Bolen, who has finished 15th or better in all over her races this season took control and led the whole race winning in 20:22.67. Gateway senior Jenycha Rivera finished runner-up in a sub 21 minute time of 20:52 while St. Cloud sophomore Valeria Villatoro and another Harmony freshman Allison Hicks had a sprint to the finish for third and fourth respectively!

The host Bulldogs placed five in the top ten to score 31 points and pick up the win over Harmony (52) and Gateway (54.) The win marked St. Cloud's sixth conference championship in a row. Even more impressive is that all five girls that were on the winning team two years ago are now running in various colleges across the country. With a top five consisting of one freshman, three sophomores, and a junior the future looks very bright for the Bulldogs.

While the girls race wasn't as thrilling, the boys varsity showdown offered up more excitement with Liberty's Ryan Yarde and St. Cloud sophomore Tristen Montalvo running stride until the 2.5 mile mark. Montalvo had the faithful fans behind him, but Yarde left him in the dust winning in 16:48.98 and keeping the individual winning tradition set by Rogelio Araiza alive. Montalvo was second in 17:06.38.

Speaking of Araiza and traditions, the boys race had been the Liberty show, but after losing a majority of their team to graduation, STC took advantage. The Bulldogs placed five in the top 20 to win with 46 points over Harmony (57) and Liberty (82).

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