Regional Track Showdown Wednesday in Osceola County : State Championships Just One Leap Away

By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola

Photos courtesy Jason Luquis/St. Cloud HS

A bevy of Osceola County athletes will attempt to qualify for the 2024 FHSAA State Track Championships this coming Wednesday as regional track championships are held around the region. In order to automatically qualify for regionals, athletes had to finish in the top four at district meets held this past week. In addition, the top eight other times and distances among non-automatic qualifiers across the state reached regionals via an at-large bid.

At four different district championships held last week, Osceola saw its eight public schools automatically advance 74 different athletes to regionals – including 18 individual district champions and two champion relay teams. Gateway, which saw its boys team win the 3A, District 8 Team Championship, and Harmony led the way with 16 athletes from each school qualifying for regionals in individual events.

In order to reach the FHSAA State Championship Meet in at Hodges Stadium (North Florida University) in Jacksonville on May 15-18, individuals and relay teams must finish first or second in their regional championship. Additional sports (up to 10 per event) are available as at-large qualifiers.

Here is a review of last week’s district championships involving county schools:

Class 4A, District 10

Viera High School in Melbourne was the site of both the boys and girls Class 4A, District 10 Championships that included Osceola, St. Cloud and Harmony. As expected, state power Vero Beach dominated the competition, winning both the boys (183 points) and girls (127) team titles.

On the boys’ side, Harmony (92) was third, St. Cloud (42) checked in at eighth place and Osceola was ninth (32). Osceola County fared much better in the girls meet with the three county teams all placing in the top five with Harmony in second (109), St. Cloud (100) third and Osceola fifth (76).

District champions on the boys’ from the county included Harmony’s Mason Shafer in the pole vault (12’-9 ½”) and Noah Tribe in the long jump (21-10 ¼). Other impressive finishes included Harmony’s David Febus, who qualified in both the 110 and 400 hurdles with a pair of third place finishes; and St. Cloud high jumpers Jahleek Lawrence, Jonathan Rodriguez, and Abasai Ramos, who claimed second-fourth in the event to move on to regionals.

On girls side, St. Cloud’s Kyla Perez won the 800 in 2:24.38 and also ran a leg on the district champion 4 x 800 relay team that included Allison Sandoval, Caitlyn Matchak and Jade Shoyer. St. Cloud’s Hannah Kline (5’-1 ¾”) led a county 1-2-3 sweep in the high jump as Harmony’s Samantha Vickers finished second and Osceola’s Ivy Shelton was third. The county also grabbed all four automatic qualifers in the pole vault, won by Sofia Hauser (10’-4”).

Class 4A, District 9

Tohopekaliga was the only Osceola school at the Class 4A, District 9 meet at Dr. Phillips this past Wednesday. The Tigers finished third in the boys team race (97.5 points) and fifth in the girls (64) meet; as Olympia won both team titles.

Sofia Delgado was the star of the meet for the Tigers, as she won the shot put (31-3 ¼), discus (95-6) and the javelin (93-5) to account for 30 of Tohopekaliga’s 64 team points. Chazden Hill won the boys triple jump and also qualified for regionals in the javelin; while Sanaa Charles was a district champion in the high jump.

Overall, the Tigers had 11 automatic qualifiers and will join athletes from Osceola, St. Cloud and Harmony in the Region 3 Championships at Martin County on Wednesday.

Class 4A, District 5

Celebration and Poinciana competed in the 4A, District 5 Championships at George Jenkins High School last week. Host Jenkins won both the boys (175 points) and girls (304.5) team titles; while Celebration was third in the girls championship (61) and fifth in the boys (57). Poinciana was fourth in both the boys (85) and girls (40) team chase.

For Poinciana, Levi Lee (1600) and Tyler Johnson (Triple Jump) came away with district championships. Lee also advanced to regionals in the 400. On the girls side for the Eagles, all three relay teams (4 x 100, 4 x 400, 4 x 800) finished fourth to advance to regionals.

Celebration did not post a district champion, but had two athletes — freshman Claire Reburn (1600, 3200) and senior Gavin Konopka (Shot and Discus) advance in multiple individual events.

Class 3A, District 8

The Class 3A, District 8 Championships were held last week at Lake Region High School in Polk County and Gateway had a huge meet – winning the boys district championship over Lake Wales (153-49) and finishing second to Lake Wales on the girls side (106.5-151), Liberty also competed in the 10-team meet.

In all, the Panthers posted seven district champions, including Florian Leonardi, who won both the 1600 and 3200. Levi Hill was victorious in the 110 Hurdles and Jose Calderon won the 400; while Dalton gold won the pole vault. On the girls side, Jazmin Brown was district champion in the discus but also qualified for regionals in the javelin and shot. Aaliyah Rojas won the high jump.

List of Automatic Regional Track Qualifiers from

Osceola County