NCISAA roundup: Oakwood School wins 1A baseball, runner-up in tennis

Grace Christian School’s first-ever girls state crown in any sport was one to remember – and it came against Eastern Plains Independent Conference opponent St. David’s School in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 2A soccer championship.

Thanks to second-half goals from Micah King and Alexis Lang, along with flawless net work from Alexa Pibl, Grace Christian stopped St. David’s by a 2-0 margin in the title matchup at Caldwell Academy in Greensboro.

“We were happy that we made the semifinals, let alone win the state championship,” said Lang, a sophomore midfielder. “It feels awesome.”

St. David’s coach Jennifer Partenheimer, who won a state title at Apex in 2007 during her prep days, guided the Warriors for the final time. She will be moving this summer to California to join her fiancee’, but her last season at St. David’s proved to be memorable.

St. David’s went 13-5-1. The Eagles closed at 15-3-2

NCISAA 3A soccer: Cary Academy’s dreams of an undefeated season ended in heartbreaking fashion with a 2-1 loss to host Charlotte Latin in Saturday’s championship. The Chargers end the year 16-1.

NCISAA tennis: Cary Academy won its third straight NCISAA 3A boys tennis title and didn’t need doubles to do it. The Chargers defeated Matthews’ Covenant Day School 5-1 on Saturday at the Charlotte Indoor Tennis Club.

NCISAA girls lacrosse: Durham Academy fell to top seed and host Charlotte Country Day 18-2 in Saturday’s state championship. The Cavaliers end the year 11-5.

Oakwood School: On Friday, Greenville’s Oakwood School won the 1A baseball championship Friday at Wilson’s Fleming Stadium with a 4-3 and 1-0 sweep of Lawrence Academy in a best-of-three series. The Eagles also captured the softball title with a 17-7 win against Erwin’s Cape Fear Christian and were runner-up to Statesville Christian, 5-2 at Barton College.

NCISAA 1A/2A track: Trinity Academy of Raleigh’s Christian Pigues led all area athletes with two gold medals at the NCISAA’s 1A/2A championship meet Saturday on the campus of North Raleigh Christian Academy.

After claiming the 1,600-meter run by 1.27 seconds over Woodlawn’s Quinn Schneider in come-from-behind style with a time of 4 minutes, 33.62 seconds, Pigues led from beginning to end to win the 800-meter run (1:57.93).

“Coach told me to go out and not lead, just chill,” Pigues said of the 1,600. “I knew Quinn would set a good pace, around the 215, 220 mark I had to go and raise up and sprint to the end.

Pigues made it clear he wanted to excel in the day’s final event – the 4x400 relay. And the junior certainly did, making up three spots on his leg as the Tigers took third (3:35.01). That finish allowed TAR (36 points, sixth place) to edge St. David’s (29.5, eighth) for the top finish among local boys teams.

Two area girls struck individual gold with The O’Neal School’s Toyin Koleoso winning the 300-meter hurdles and St. David’s Madison Ward taking the high jump competition, which was held on Friday.

Koleoso injured her right leg while placing third in the long jump (15-feet, 7.25 inches) on Friday, and was disappointed with a fifth-place finish early Saturday in the 100-meter hurdles (17.73).

But she flashed to the victory in the 300 with a time of 47.24 to win by 2.75 seconds.

“I didn’t expect to win, not really,” the sophomore said. “I hurt my leg and wasn’t feeling too well. I don’t know what got me there. I was just pushing hard. I’m thinking maybe God pushed me.”

Koleoso also ran a leg in the Falcons’ third-place finish in the 4x400 relay (4:23.73), which helped them finish fifth overall in the team standings, just head of St. David’s (39.5-35). In that same event, Cary Christian was second (4:22.28) for the best area relay finish.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 8:40 PM with the headline "NCISAA roundup: Oakwood School wins 1A baseball, runner-up in tennis."