BERMUDA RUN -- Sanderson's boys and Green Hope's girls cross country squads both left Tanglewood as somewhat surprising but well-deserving 4-A state champions Saturday.
The Spartans, appearing in their first state meet since 1990, edged Cap Sevenrival Broughton, 89-92, to take the boys' crown. Green Hope had its most balanced day of the season, with five runners in the top-17, and topped favorite Asheville T.C. Roberson on the girls' side. The Falcons finished with 47 team points to Roberson's 60. Roberson made the move to 4-A this year after winning 10 of the past 12 state 3-A championships.
"What we did today was a complete team effort," Green Hope coach Mike Miragliuolo said. "To beat a team like T.C. Roberson takes great depth and that depth having a great day. It was just an amazing team effort. Anytime you have your first five finish in the top-17 here, you're going to win a state championship."
Olivia Enright finished sixth in 18:56.82 to pace the Falcon runners, while teammates Erica Amatori (8th), Maura McDonnell (12th), Jessica Rossabi (13th) and Lauren Colberg (17th) all scored key points.
Sanderson had a little bit of extra motivation to beat their Cap Seven-foe Broughton, the two-time defending 4-A state champion who topped the Spartans in last week's regional after Sanderson won the conference championship.
The Spartans didn't have a top-10 finisher but their top-five runners all finished within a minute of each other. Matt Schick led Sanderson individually in 13th place, while Philip Hathaway was 17th and Matt Giesz and Mitchell Feldman were 19th and 20th, respectively.
"We told the guys before they got off of the bus that we wanted them to run the first mile with our head, the second mile with our personality and the last mile with their heart," said Sanderson coach Ashley Taylor, who helped prep the team with head coach Jason Bochert. "The guys made it work."
Green Hope's Bryan Spreitzer took second individually with a time of 15:52.14, while Wakefield's Mitch Mallory and Cary's Mohamed Abushouk was fifth. Reidy Jones led Broughton's state-runner up team finish with a seventh place run.
West Johnston, paced by Chad Massengill in 14th, was third at 106 points.
Roberson's Laura Hoer pulled ahead of East Chapel Hill's Carolyn Baskir late in the girls race to take the individual crown. Hoer finished in 18:13.01, while Baskir came in at 18:14.37. Millbrook's Samantha George was third. Eleven of the top-20 girls' finishers hailed from the Triangle area.
West Johnston's girls took fourth with 183 points.
