Apex’s Middle Creek wins 4A volleyball; Myers Park athletes among Charlotte-area state champs
Middle Creek’s top volleyball player was on the other side of the world Saturday night, but that didn’t stop the Mustangs from sweeping Cox Mill 3-0 in the 4A high school state championship match.
It was the first state volleyball title for Middle Creek, an Apex school which opened 21 years ago.
Meanwhile, Charlotte-area athletes had a big day, winning state championships in girls’ tennis and cross-country. And a Raleigh-area school captured a team state title in cross-country.
Volleyball
In the 4A title match at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum, Middle Creek had to play without its season leader in kills.
“We knew that if we stuck together and did the fundamentals, we would come out OK,” said Middle Creek coach Jodi Scoggins, whose team finished with a 26-1 record.
Sally Perez, a 6-3 senior and UCLA beach volleyball commit, led the Mustangs with 424 kills this season. On Saturday night, though, she was in Taiwan, with the Team USA Under-21 squad.
Scoggins said it “was a really tough decision” for Perez, but added, “We’re happy for her.”
The victory, achieved in set scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25-17, ended an unusual season for Cox Mill (24-4), which lost its first-year head coach a month ago and turned to Ralph Viegelmann, who came out of retirement.
Viegelmann had coached the Chargers to a runner-up finish in the 3A tournament three years ago.
“It was a bit of a roller-coaster season for our girls,” Viegelmann said. “But I’m really proud of our team. They played really well.”
Without Perez, 6-1 seniors Avery Booker and Josie Zynczak took control on the front line for Middle Creek.
They repeatedly blocked kill attempts from Cox Mill’s Ryan HJunter, Jordyn Gray and Arielle Walker.
“They stopped us from hitting the ball,” Viegelmann said of the Mustangs.
Middle Creek broke open a tight first set by scoring six straight points for a 13-8 lead. The Mustangs ran off five more in a row later for a 19-11 lead that held up.
The second set was tied at 12-12, when the Mustangs went on a 9-2 run.
Cox Mill lead 6-4 on a Hunter kill in the third set, but Middle Creek went on another of its surges, scoring eight straight points for a 12-6 lead. The Mustangs had five aces in the final set.
“We knew we had to serve aggressively,” Booker said. “And we had to be strong in the passing game.”
Middle Creek finished the championship match when Cox Mill’s Gray hit the ball out of bounds on a return.
“It’s kind of surreal,” said Scoggins, who said she played on a state runner-up team in high school but never won a championship. “We always wanted to win it. I’m so happy for the girls.”
Cross-country
CLASS 4A: MYERS PARK STAR SETS NEW MEET RECORD
Myers Park senior Mary Bonner Dalton put her name in the record book by recording the fastest time for a female runner in a state championship meet.
Dalton covered the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course at Ivy Redmon Complex in Kernersville in a time of 16 minutes 54 seconds. It broke a state meet record that had stood for 27 years, and Dalton, a Notre Dame commit who finished second a year ago, broke the mark by 29 seconds.
She won Saturday’s race by 50 seconds.
But Cuthbertson’s streak of girls’ state championships ended at five, as Cardinal Gibbons took the team title. Cardinal Gibbons had 60 points, with Cuthbertson second at 105. The Cavaliers had won three titles as a 3A school and the last two in 4A.
Justine Preisano led the Cavaliers with a seventh-place finish.
Union County wasn’t shut out of state championships, however, as Marvin Ridge won the boys’ 4A title. The Mavericks finished with 88 points, and Broughton (137) was second. Ardrey Kell finished fourth, Cuthbertson seventh, and Weddington eighth.
The individual winner was senior Noah Valyo of Athens Drive, with Ardrey Kell senior Raghav Gopalkrishnan second and senior Thomas Wlazlowski of Cuthbertson third. Valyo set a 4A boys’ state meet record with a time of 15:05.45.
CLASS 3A: NORTH LINCOLN WON FOURTH STRAIGHT
North Lincoln won its fourth straight girls’ cross-country championship, edging runner-up First Flight, 63-71. First Flight sophomore Morgan Miller was the individual winner. North Lincoln sophomore Olivia Ferraro was third, and senior Bella Wood ran seventh.
Croatan won the boys’ championship, with North Lincoln finishing fifth. Individual winner was Orange senior and defending 3A champion Gabriel Schmid, a senior. Schmid finished in 15:14.75, breaking the 2A record by 24 seconds.
Central Academy’s Gavin Jansen was 11th, and teammate Andrew Catapano ran 14th.
CLASS 1A: CHRIST THE KING RUNNERS WIN BOTH INDIVIDUAL RACES
Christ the King swept individual honors, with junior Blake Nicholson winning the boys’ race by 30 seconds, and junior Nicole Alfers winning the girls’ race by 32 seconds.
Nicholson became the first 1A runner to break the 16-minute mark in 10 years, finishing in 15:36.84. It beat the former state record by 15 seconds.
Nicholson’s pace was so fast that the defending 1A boys’ champion, O’Malley Salinas of Andrews, finished in seventh place — even though he ran five seconds faster than his winning time in 2022.
Lejeune took the boys’ title, and Swain County was the girls’ team champion. In the boys’ race, Corvian Community senior Cole Fiorillo ran third and junior Carson Williams 10th. Corvian finished fourth, with Christ the King fifth.
In the girls’ race, Christ the King was third and Bradford Prep fourth. Shea Roche of Christ the King ran fourth, and Bradford Prep’s McKenzie Ashcraft was seventh. Both are freshmen.
CLASS 2A: NCSSM WINS GIRLS TITLE
N.C. School of Science and Math/Durham won the girls’ title, while Brevard took the boys’ championship. Individual winners were N.C. School of Science and Math’s Catherine Parker and Seaforth’s Jack Anstrom.
Pine Lake Prep freshman Maya Little finished fourth in the girls’ race, with Lincoln Charter taking third place and Pine Lake Prep fourth in team standings.
Lincoln Charter finished fifth in the boys’ race.
Girls’ team tennis
CLASS 4A: MYERS PARK WINS BATTLE OF UNBEATENS
Myers Park (21-0) eked out a 5-4 victory over New Hanover, winning a battle of unbeatens. The Mustangs, who last won the girls’ state championship in 2016, led 4-2 after the singles competition at the Burlington Tennis Center, then held off a challenge by New Hanover (25-1).
The deciding match came in No. 2 singles. Myers Park’s team of Agnes Shinn and Anne Mason Moore scored a 10-7 victory over New Hanover’s Lucy Dimock and Caroline Morrison.
Moore, Shinn, No. 1 player Tegan Reilly and Finley Holzman won in singles for the Mustangs.
The victory snapped a string of three runner-up finishes for Myers Park since it won the title in 2016.
Reilly was named Most Valuable Performer of the 4A finals.
CLASS 3A: LAKE NORMAN CHARTER FINISHES UNBEATEN
Lake Norman Charter (24-0) put the wraps on a perfect season with a 5-4 victory over Terry Sanford (18-1) in the 3A state finals.
The match pivoted on the No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles matches, which were settled by third-set tiebreakers.
In the singles match, Kate Champion of Lake Norman Charter dropped the first set to Lauren Ruppe 6-4 and was on the brink of defeat in the second set before rallying for a 7-6 (7-2) victory. She won the third set 10-3. That tied the match at 3-3.
The teams split the first two doubles matches, leaving the No. 3 doubles match to decide the state title. That’s where Champion teamed with Aileen Huynh for a 10-10 (7-3) victory over Sophie Blankenship and Hannah Johnson.
It was the fourth-ever state championship in girls’ tennis for Lake Norman Charter, but the previous three came when the school was in the 2A division.
Luci Falls, the No. 1 singles player for Lake Norman Charter, was named Most Valuable Performer.
PHOTOS: Cox Mill vs. Middle Creek in 4A volleyball finals
This story was originally published November 4, 2023 at 8:54 PM.
