By J. Daniel Pearson
For Positively Osceola
Osceola County will be well represented this weekend when the state cross country and swimming championships are held this weekend in Tallahassee and Stuart respectively. The state golf championship will be held at Mission Inn on Nov. 16-17.
In cross country, scheduled for Apalachee Regional Park on Friday, Harmony will be sending its girls team to complete. The Lady Longhorns qualified with an eighth-place team finish and a team score of 241 at the Class 4A, Region 3 meet. Timber Creek won the event with a team score of 76, Celebration was 10th with a score of 266.
Freshman Lariana Decker and senior Alaine Rivera led the way for Harmony, crossing the finish line together in ninth (19:42.0) and tenth (19:42.7) place respectively. Regina Younassoghlou (62nd), Elaina Halk (76th) and Thora Gaston (84th) had the other counting scores for the Longhorns.
In addition to the Harmony girls team, Celebration’s Catalina Edwards will also be competing in the girls championship, as she grabbed one of three individual spots with a third-place overall finish in 19:01.3.
Running at the same event that was held at Austin Tindall Park, the Tohopekaliga boys team – which won the Orange Belt Conference Championship this year – will be headed to the state tournament based on their fifth-place finish in the regional meet.
Johan Comacho (16:27.8) and Julian Pomalo (16:38.9) paced the Tigers by finishing ninth and 11th overall. Javan Medina (29th), Zaniel Lezardo (39th) and Jayven Garcia (62nd) rounded out the team scoring for Toho’s 150-point total. Viera, one of the top teams in the state, placed four runners in the top six and had five in the top 15 to easily win the event with a low score of 29. Celebration (9th place) just missed qualifying as team by six places.
Two other runners from Osceola qualified for the state meet as individuals, as Harmony’s Joel Jean placed an impressive 6th overall in 16:04.7; while Celebration’s Jared Falchook grabbed the final at-large spot with a ninth-place finish overall, covering the 5K distance in 16:27.3.
In swimming, Celebration qualified its 200-medley relay team (9th overall seed) and its 200 free relay (16th overall seed) for the state championships being held this weekend at Sailfish Splash Waterpark and Aquatics Center in Stuart, Fla.
Individually, Celebration’s Felipe Costa qualified for both the 100-free (15th seed) and 100-back (5th seed). Costa’s time of 51.63 in the regional meet is less than a 4/10th of a second slower than top-seeded West Orange’s Brennan Muramatsu (51.29)
Osceola’s Anthony Ambrosi qualified in both the 50-free (21.68) and 100-free (48.35). Harmony’s Sarina Steel grabbed the 14th seed in the 50-free (24.53); while teammates Meredith and Amelia Wagner will both participate in the 4A Diving championships by qualifying 12th and 13th in regionals.
In the Class 3A Championships, Gateway and St. Cloud had one qualifier each. Bulldog freshman dive Silas Camacho will the 16th seed in boys 1-meter diving; while Gateway’s Delyn McDonald grabbed the 14th overall seed with a time of 55.22 in last week’s regional meet.
In golf, the St. Cloud girls team – led by four-time OBC Champion Morgan Beaulieu – will participate as a team in the Class 2A Championship.
Photo Cred: Tohopekaliga High School
