Prep notebook: Area cross country teams claim regional titles

Green Hope’s boys and girls swept the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A Mideast cross country championships on Saturday at WakeMed Park. Apex’s Ben Savino and Leesville Road’s Nevada Mareno won individual regional titles.

The Broughton boys were close behind Green Hope (44-50) and will also head to this weekend’s state championships along with the Panther Creek and Leesville Road boys and the Broughton, Leesville and Apex girls.

Cardinal Gibbons swept the 4A Midwest regionals, while Jordan’s boys were fourth. Gibbons’ Connor Lane won the boys’ race.

In the 3A Mideast, the Chapel Hill girls, led by Katherine Dokholyan’s victory, went 1-2-4-5-6 to help pull off a boy-girl title sweep. The Union Pines boys and girls and Cedar Ridge girls are also going to states.

In the 3A East, South Johnston’s Jacob Gonzalez won his third regional title. Regional champ Northern Nash, Cleveland and Corinth Holders qualified in boys, as did the Northern Nash and Corinth Holders girls.

The N.C. School of Science and Math boys and Durham School of the Arts girls won the 2A Mideast led by individual champs (NCSSM’s Lawton Ives and DSA’s Destiny Stevons). Carrboro, DSA and NCSSM qualified for the state meet in boys’ and girls’.

Voyager Academy’s Luke Bennett and Franklin Academy’s Caitlyn Burkett won 1A Mideast titles. The Franklin Academy, Raleigh Charter, Roxboro Community and Research Triangle girls and Raleigh Charter, Voyager Academy and Franklin Academy boys qualified for the state meet.

The Granville Central girls (1A East) also qualified for the state championships.

Big day for the Chargers: In a two-day span, Wayne Country Day won its fourth straight 1A girls team tennis title, finished runner-up in boys soccer and won the girls cross country title with no seniors.

In girls tennis, where the Chargers defeated Kerr-Vance Academy 5-0, the players say it gets sweeter rather than routine.

“It definitely gets sweeter – especially this being my senior year,” said No. 2 singles Ally Willman, a top-six player all four seasons. “I tried not to take anything for granted. I’m so proud of my teams for what we accomplished the last four years.”

In doubles, Country Day juniors Jennifer Potts and Eliza Eagles won at No. 1, 8-6; Willman and sophomore Langley Barnes at No. 2, 8-5; and junior Hannah Fesler and senior Aimee Barnes at No. 3, 8-6.

“We came out here to win,” Potts said. “You could tell by the way doubles started out. All the matches we were down at some point, but we know how to come back and play every point out.”

The top-six players Kerr-Vance returns next year are junior Holly Steg, junior Savannah Barnes, junior Kayla Abbott, freshman Edie Echols, freshman Caroline Williams and Lorena Negron.

“We’re happy we were here,” Kerr-Vance coach Hilda Delbridge said. “We don’t have a senior on the team. I’m proud of them, and we’re optimistic we’ll we back. We lost three seniors from last year’s team.”

In boys soccer, coach Steve Ellis’ team came up short in a 3-1 loss to Greenfield School, a team it beat earlier in the season.

“We were happy with Greenfield to be switching it and sending it back. We wanted that with us being so compact,” Ellis said. “Our backline and our midfield had to drop back a little too much, and that was the real difference.”

Everyone returns to the cross country team next year.

“The girls were state runner-up last year, so they knew what it took and they worked harder and harder and harder and they peaked at the end like they’re supposed to,” WCD coach Rob Glass said. “It’s a very young team. The oldest runner we had out there was a sophomore.”

Randy Jones and Tom Shanahan contributed.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: Area cross country teams claim regional titles."