NORTH CAROLINA STATE MEET

Cardinal Gibbons Boys Capture Team Title From "Slow" Heat After Taking Third At Regional; Hoggard Girls Win 2nd Straight; Chapel Hill Boys, Cuthbertson Girls Maintain 3A Crowns

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

A cross country season like no other reached its conclusion Friday for Class 4A and 2A runners in North Carolina on the first day of the state cross country championships in Kernersville — the first championship competition in the state since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

3A (Saturday)

Chapel Hill coach Joan Nesbit Mabe said Friday that she felt her boys team was one of the best in school history and Saturday the Tigers proved her correct. 

Chapel Hill put five runners in the top 19 and overcame Weddington's dynamic front-runners to win a showdown 35-45. Mount Tabor was third with 85 points. 

Chapel Hill won the 3A boys title for the third time in five years. Ryan Motondo from Walter Williams won the individual title in 15:44.9. Weddington duo Caden Townsend (15:48.4) and Wesley Larson (15:58.1) finished second and third. 

Cuthbertson won the girls championship for the third straight time, with Madeline Hill leading the way in 18:11.9. Hill also won the 2018 race. Teammate Alyssa Preisano was second in 18:16.9. 

Cuthbertson also had fourth-place finisher Lillian Nasta (18:32.3) as the team rolled to victory with 31 points. Weddington was second with 46 points and Marvin Ridge was third with 106. 

RESULTS

1A

Lincoln Charter won the boys team title, placing five in the top 19 on the way to 55 points. Aaron Rovnak from Franklin Academy was the class of the field, winning by 20 seconds in 16:47.6.

Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy scored 88 points to win the girls team title as the top four teams were separated by only 10 points. Up front, junior Lauren Tolbert from Highland School of Technology beat fellow junior Briley Bickerstaff of Riverside (Martin) by less than two seconds, 19:15.0 to 19:16.9. 

RESULTS

4A (Friday)

Carmen Alder of Pinecrest, running in the "slow" section of the girls 4A final, won her third consecutive title in 17:47.3. She finished 55 seconds ahead of her littler sister, Vanessa, who was second. 

Alder is the fourth girls champion to win three in a row in North Carolina history, joining Kim Spano of North Mecklenburg (4A) from 2006-08, Grace Morken of 2A Carrboro (2010-12) and Karen Godlock of 2A Polk County (1990-92). 

The Hoggard girls won their second consecutive title, edging out Panther Creek, 96-101. 

Murphy Smith of Ardrey Kell, the top returner from the 2019 state meet, completed his undefeated season by running 15:44.6. He dipped under the time to beat from the first section, 15:46.5 by Wesley Haws from Cardinal Gibbons, in dramatic fashion.

"It was pretty stressful before and during the race," Smith said. "I remember walking to the line thinking about how I needed to commit to a strong move. I came through the first mile about 10 seconds slower than the first heat and knew the second half of the race was going to be physically and mentally tough. But I knew I had to try to leave it all out there if I wanted to win. When I turned to the final straight I knew it was going to be close and I really had to dig deep.

"I was not sure I had won until a few minutes after (the race) when officials confirmed it."

It was a big day for Cardinal Gibbons of Raleigh, which advanced to state last weekend with a third-place finish in the 4A East regional — just two points ahead of a non-qualifying fourth. 

Running in the presumed slower section, Cardinal Gibbons got a boost from Haws and edged regional champ Hoggard 103-105. The second-place team in the East region, Millbrook, was forced to withdraw from the state meet on Thursday due to a positive COVID test. 

It was Cardinal Gibbons' first state title since 2014 and first at the 4A level. 

The top seven teams finished within 16 points.

RESULTS

2A

The North Lincoln boys won for the fourth consecutive time and the girls team made it a clean sweep. 

North Lincoln's Angie Allen successfully defended the title she won 14 months ago and helped lift her team to its first state title. Allen's time of 18:05.5 was one of the fastest in 2A history and she won by 78 seconds. 

North Lincoln's 42 points beat Lake Norman Charter by 20 points. 

The North Lincoln boys put four runners in the top eight to secure the school's sixth championship since 2011. The Knights scored 40 points. 

Walter Sellers from Atkins ran the fastest time of the day with 15:40.8. 

RESULTS

The Class 3A and 1A finals are Saturday.