Ardrey Kell’s Murphy Smith, North Lincoln win NCHSAA cross-country state title
Ardrey Kell senior Murphy Smith won the 4A state cross-country individual championship Friday, and North Lincoln swept the boys’ and girls’ titles in the 2A divisions.
Ardrey Kell’s and Myers Park’s boys’ and girls’ teams each finished in the top five, during the first day of the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s cross-country finals.
The 3A and 1A classes will run Saturday at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.
Smith took the 4A boys’ title in a time of 15 minutes 44.65 seconds. That was nearly two seconds faster than the 15:46.59 time of runner-up Wesley Haws of Cardinal Gibbons.
Each of the divisions was competed in two heats, a concession to social distancing and the COVID-19 health crisis. Haws ran in the first heat, Murphy in the second.
Third was Myers Park’s Madden Muhammad, with a time of 15:58.03 in the first heat. Muhammad led for much of the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) distance before being passed by Haws.
The 4A boys’ team title was closely contested, with the top seven teams finishing within 16 points of one another.
Cardinal Gibbons took the team title (103 points), with Hoggard (105), Ardrey Kell (112), Cary (114), Myers Park (114), West Forsyth (118) and Green Hope (119) close behind.
Other Charlotte-area runners finishing in the top 15 among the boys were Lake Norman’s Griffin Horner (fifth), Hickory Ridge’s Bryce Anderson (12th), and Porter Ridge’s Jacob Laney (14th).
4A girls
Pinecrest had the top two finishers, but the Patriots finished seventh in the team competition. Hoggard, with 96 points, edged Panther Creek (101) for the 4A girls’ championship. It was the Wilmington school’s second straight 4A girls’ title.
Trailing in the top five were Reagan (116), Myers Park (119) and Ardrey Kell (130).
But the girls’ spotlight belonged to individual winner Carmen Alder, a senior from Pinecrest. She won the state title for the third time in her career, beating younger sister Vanessa, a sophomore, by a whopping 55 seconds for the championship.
Mary Bonner Dalton, of Myers Park, ran fourth, with Lake Norman’s Madeline Stolberg and Hough’s Lilly Walters taking fifth and sixth. Also in the top 10 was Ardrey Kell’s Anna Walters, in ninth.
2A boys
North Lincoln took the team championship for the sixth time in the school’s 17-year history. The Knights won by a comfortable margin, with 40 points to 79 for second-place Atkins. South Rowan was fifth.
Atkins senior Walter Sellers won the 2A boys’ individual championship, and his time of 15:40.86 narrowly missed the meet record of 15:40.66, set in 2019 by North Lincoln’s Jason Thomson. A pair of North Lincoln seniors, Miles Phillips and Jacob Scott, ran 2-3 behind Sellers.
Also in the top 10 were North Lincoln’s Stephen Fernetti (seventh) and Jared Campbell (eighth).
2A girls
The team title was decided among a pair of South Fork 2A Conference members, with North Lincoln (42) outrunning runner-up Lake Norman Charter (62).
North Lincoln senior Angie Allen ran away with individual honors, winning in a time of 18:05.5 -- 1:18 ahead of second-place Katherine Hopkins, a Lincolnton sophomore.
Charlotte-area runners took the seventh through 10th spots -- Lori Glavan (North Lincoln), Brooke Hope (R-S Central), Lily Yampolsky (Lake Norman Charter), and Karina Coulter (Fred T. Foard).
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 2:16 PM.
