Cary Academy sweeps boys, girls NCISAA cross country team and individual titles

Entering the N.C. Independent School Athletic Association championships, Cary Academy cross country coach Conrad Hall wanted his teams to have a good day. They had a great one.

The Chargers swept the team titles – the first championship for the boys, after 10 runner-up finishes, and third for the girls – and the individual titles.

It was a happy bus ride home from Charlotte’s McAlpine Park.

“Our boys have been working toward that for a long time,” Hall said. “For the guys to get something that was a historic win for our program and for the girls to win it too, it was just really cool for both of those teams to have that kind of success on the same day.

“I would have been proud of them win or lose for the hard work and determination they’ve shown to get here, but it was great to see them step up today and have a big performance when it counted most.”

Cary Academy’s boys were well ahead of runner-up Durham Academy, 39-88. North Raleigh Christian Academy was 10th (230).

Coleman Mitchell, a sophomore, finished in 15:50.1 to nip the Knights’ Miller Meares (second, 15:55.9). Meares had defeated Mitchell in the conference championship a week ago.

“About halfway through the race, at the bottom of the hill, around the lake, that’s when I made my first move in. The only person with me at that point was Miller,” Mitchell said. “With about 600 meters to go, that’s when I started to create some distance.”

The Chargers had four runners in the top 10: Mitchell, Chase Coley (fourth, 16:35.1), Tommy Bright (eighth, 16:40.8) and senior Jack Pullen (10th, 16:42.2). Pullen is the only senior in the Chargers’ top seven.

The girls amassed 51 points, getting the better of Charlotte’s Providence Day (86), the defending state champ. Ravenscroft (167) was fifth, North Raleigh Christian (207) eighth and Durham Academy (243) ninth. Cary Academy won the 2012 title, but none of this year’s runners were on that team.

Junior Sarah Bodmer (18:37.2) repeated her title by making her move earlier instead of later.

“(Hall) has been doing really tough workouts to really push us. I had a lot of faith in him. I know he’s a really good coach, so I always do what he tells me. It always seems to work,” Bodmer said. “I give all the credit to him.”

Teammates Emily Lane (fourth, 19:15.8) and Athina Zodl (seventh, 19:30.6) were also top-10. Ravenscroft’s Maddy Ringenbach (19:33.2) was eighth and Frances Margaret Gehrke (19:33.5) was ninth. NRCA’s Brooke Robinson (19:34.4) was 10th.

2A: Cary Christian edged conference rival Grace Christian Raleigh121-126 for the 2A state championship. The Knights were led by eighth-place Mark Watson (17:25.6).

Grace Christian Raleigh was led by third-place Matt Horan (17:02.8) and fourth-place Will Sossaman (17:03.9). St. David’s Sam Markoff (17:26.1) was ninth.

In the girls’ race, Oliva Lackner of St. Thomas More was fourth (19:14.7) followed by teammates Isabella Lackner (19:55.3) in seventh and Lucy Ketterer (20:06.0) in eighth.

The Chancellors were a point away from their first NCISAA title, falling just short of Asheville’s Carolina Day 80-81.

1A: Cape Fear Christian’s Corbin Gillespie was seventh (19.41.4) in the boys race and Grace Christian Sanford’s Brennan Shapiro was 10th (19:52.2).

Morgan Lane of Wilson’s Community Christian was third (22:35.0) in the girls’ race.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Cary Academy sweeps boys, girls NCISAA cross country team and individual titles."