Donald Lamb was on-site at the Orange Belt Conference Championship at St. Cloud and captured nearly 600 photos of all the action! Check them out and make sure to tag yourself!
Running camp… that two word phrase makes many people immediately shake their heads and ponder, “Why does anyone want to do that?” Well, for St. Cloud High School, it’s a yearly tradition that just finished up its 7th annual trip.
The Liberty Chargers were on the brink of a state title run in 2014 and could be in the hunt in 2015 with a lot of depth in the sprints. Donald Lamb gives us an inside look at the program.
This week marked the start of the state series as Osceola County teams competed in district competition. We take a look at how they fared as well as what else has been happening around Osceola in the recent weeks.
Just like that we are in the final month of XC 2014. A large round of invitationals await teams this week, before conference championships begin. The conference titles might not seem like a big deal in the scheme of things, but they can help build the momentum teams needs as they begin the playoff push toward the state series. I love playoffs in every sport. It pushes everybody to be at your best, or you might be watching your rivals take home season accolades that you so despearatley wanted yourself. The OBC schools were all over Florida this week, lets see how they fared.
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.
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.
A total of 14 different teams traveled to St. Cloud Saturday morning for the annual St. Cloud Invitational. They were treated to comfortable fall weather, hometown winners, and a puddle riddled course. Rain altered practice for several teams this week, but it gave the course some added challenges.
It’s back for year two! Runners across the state are now in full gear. However, many are still trying to find the groove of where their team stands. From the coaches standpoint, many runners are likely still out of shape and not quite ready for the next month that will determine who runs for a title and who stays home. Here is your school by school breakdown for our seven schools in the Orange Belt Conference.
Bright House Sports Networks has begun a tradition of honoring athletes in each county along the I-4 corridor with its annual “Breakfast of Champions”. The 5th annual edition for Osceola County was Wednesday morning at Falcon’s Fire Golf Club, just outside of the Walt Disney World Resort.
Lake Minneola has hosted several postseason meets this season. The final edition for the track season was Wednesday when it played host to the 3A Region 2 championships. Sitting atop a scenic hilltop, the track action was just as awesome as athletes throughout central Florida attempted to punch their ticket to the state championships next weekend in Jacksonville.
Speed was on display in the 100 meter dash at the 3A Region 2 Championships at Lake Minneola High School. Donald Lamb was on-site and has over 1,000 photos from the track to the field!
District competition has begun for the big schools throughout Florida. While the small schools begin the march toward Jacksonville with regional events being held this week, it’s merely the first step in that journey for the 3A & 4A schools. What strategies will the coaches pull to help advance their team to the next level? Athletes might wind up running a different program then they are used to, because even though we compete alone, the points count for our team.
We are on the brink of the playoffs for track season. Schools are trying to get in those last tune ups before the state series begins and legacies get established. Osceola County held its conference championships Tuesday evening at St. Cloud.
Every coach starts to analyze the upcoming season well before it even comes close to starting. The new season begins pretty much the day the previous one ends. You do some evaluating of why you are not standing on the podium in Jacksonville, or why you don’t have athletes competing at the state meet in the first place. The state meet might be a tall task for some, maybe regional champ or even district champ seems more feasible.
Florida has some big meets. For those familiar with the track circuit, Bob Hayes Invitational, Louie Bing Classic, & Sam Burley HOF are some of the biggest meets around. The colleges step up and offer Steinbrenner (USF), Florida Relays & the FSU Relays to the mix as well. Go ahead and add the Kowboy Invite to the “big FLA meets” list too. Attracting some of the best Central Florida has to offer, in addition to the some west coast teams as well, this invitational is getting larger and more competitive each year.
The Great Lambino Donald Lamb strikes again as he visits my alma mater Osceola High School for the 2014 Kowboy Invitational. Check out over 1800 photos from one of the top meet's in Central Florida and across the state!
The season is full swing now, and most teams have a few meets under their belts (and some marks in the Milesplit database). Coach Kevin Harkema of St Cloud HS welcomed 25 teams to its friendly confines for the 2nd annual St Cloud Invitational. After hosting several championship meets, this event is already double what is was last year. March got started with gorgeous weather that made for a great day at the track.
Donald Lamb was on-scene for flrunners.com at the 2014 Gateway Panthers Classic taking over 1100 photos of all the action! (via MileSplit)
Poinciana High school played host the 2013 edition of the OBC championship. Bragging rights are on the line as a precursor to the state series begin for most teams next week. The weather was perfect and the course was finally dry enough to see quality racing.
The OBC championships are finally here, and the state series begins very shortly as well. It's playoff time! Team by team weekly recaps to follow.
All of our local teams were in action this week, most of them at the St. Cloud invitational. There were 25 teams who competed at St. Cloud this weekend, mostly schools from Orange, Osceola, and Brevard counties, but a team from Georgia joined in the fun as well.
St. Cloud hosted the St. Cloud XC invitational this Saturday. There were over 25 teams from central Florida as well as one from central Georgia. The weather was actually pleasant when you compare it to the rain soaked races we have had the past few weeks.
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.
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.
There were a few meets this past week which featured OBC schools. First up was the Poinciana Invite on Wednesday, September 11th, held on campus at Poinciana High school, also site of the OBC championships in October. Liberty, Poinciana, Osceola, and St. Cloud competed in this weekday meet.
This past weekend, five area teams traveled to Trotters Park for the Edgewater Invitational. In total there were more than 30 teams from all over Central Florida that made the trek to the greater downtown Orlando area for a Friday evening race in the second weekend of the cross country season.