HS roundup: Pine Lake star wins state tennis title; postseason cross-country heats up

Pine Lake Prep’s Mallory Aull captured the 2A singles championship Saturday in the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s girls tennis finals.

Other Charlotte-area high school tennis players had to settle for second place.

Aull, who lost only four games in her four weekend matches at Ting Park in Holly Springs, swept Lillian McFall of Seaforth 6-1, 6-0 in the championship match.

Earlier Saturday, she downed East Burke’s Braelyn Stilwell 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals.

Otherwise, Charlotte-area players lost in the championships: Myers Park’s Teagan Reilly lost in the 4A singles finals to Addi McDowell of Jordan, and the Mustang team of Kayla Nofziger and Agness Shinn fell in the doubles championship.

In 3A, the East Lincoln team of Molly McGuirk and Sidney Dann lost in the doubles finals.

CLASS 4A

Reilly lost 6-0, 6-2 in the finals to McDowell, who became the first player to win a state tennis championship for Jordan since 1988. Reilly had advanced to the finals with a 6-2, 6-1 semifinal victory Saturday morning over Shreya Uniyal of Holly Springs.

In the doubles finals, New Hanover’s Sophia Catino and Hanna Davis downed Nofziger and Shinn 6-1, 6-4. Catino and Davis are their school’s first-ever girls’ tennis champions.

Nofziger and Shinn had reached the finals by way of a 7-6 (6-3), 6-4 semifinal victory on Saturday morning over Cardinal Gibbons’ Clare Stewart and Lilly Heiden.

CLASS 3A

Terry Sanford’s Loren Galaviz and Jenny Wang downed the East Lincoln tandem of McGuirk and Dann 6-2, 7-6 (2) for the championship.

McGuirk and Dann had beaten Lake Norman Charter’s Luci and Anslee Falls 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in the Saturday morning semifinals.

Terry Sanford also got the singles championship, with Pauline Bui edging Ryan Hanes of Carrboro 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

CLASS 2A

Joining Aull as tennis champions were Research Triangle’s Victoria Zhou and Alexis Zhao in doubles, with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over N.C. School of Science & Math/Durham’s Cora Wymbs and Isabella Hocker.

CLASS 1A

Lucia Neves of Bishop McGuinness swept Triangle Math & Science Academy’s Sasha Korjova 6-4, 6-4 for the singles title. In doubles, Mount Airy’s Carrie Marion and Audrey Brown beat East Wilkes’ Ava Darnell and Emerson Simmons 6-3, 6-0.

It was the third state title for Marion, who won the singles championship in 2022 and was part of a doubles championship team in 2021.

Cross-country regionals

Myers Park and Marvin Ridge each swept the boys’ and girls’ team championships Saturday in N.C. High School Athletic Association regional cross-country meets.

Their teams will compete next weekend at the state championships, to be run at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

In addition, North Lincoln’s boys and girls swept their 3A regional titles, and the Lake Norman Charter girls won their 3A regional; Pine Lake Prep won the 2A girls’ championship; and Corvian Community took the 1A boys’ team title.

4A WEST: The Myers Park boys edged runner-up Asheville 69-73, while the Mustang girls edged second-place Watauga 63-67 in the meet, held at the Larry McAfee Course at McAlpine Greenway Park in southeast Charlotte.

Ardrey Kell’s boys took third place and also will advance to the state meet, as will Hough’s girls, who were fourth.

Asheville swept the individual championships, with Michael Haskin and Sofi Alexander scoring victories. Myers Park’s Christopher Burns finished fifth among the boys, with Alaina Zaibel and Molly Barber taking fourth and fifth in the girls’ race.

4A MIDWEST: Union County teams dominated this meet, as has been customary in recent years. In the boys’ race, Marvin Ridge (56 points) comfortably outdistanced second-place Weddington (120), with Cuthbertson fourth.

The girls’ race was closer, with Marvin Ridge edging Cuthbertson 71-78. Weddington (128) was third.

Lake Norman’s Kasey Dingman won the girls’ championship, finishing 19 seconds ahead of the runner-up. Marvin Ridge’s title finish was paced by freshman Savannah Gentile and senior Julie Mayer, who ran fifth and sixth.

Reagan’s Tate Shore edged Marvin Ridge’s David Rivlin by 2.5 seconds for the boys’ championship. Six of the top 11 finishers were from Union County schools.

The meet was held at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville, site of next weekend’s state championship.

3A WEST: North Lincoln won the boys’ and girls’ team titles, with North Iredell fifth in the boys’ race. North Lincoln’s Olivia Ferraro, Bella Green and Cambelle Reffner finished 1-2-3 in the girls’ event.

3A MIDWEST: The Lake Norman Charter girls edged Piedmont for the team title at Salisbury Community Park. Lake Norman Charter freshmen Aimery Coffey and Emma Nelson led the Knights, finishing fourth and fifth.

In the boys’ race, Atkins won the team title, with Parkwood second and Central Academy fourth. Parkwood sophomore Bryce Cooke was third.

2A WEST: Pine Lake Prep’s girls edged second-place Lincoln Charter and third-place Community School of Davidson in the meet at McAlpine Greenway Park.

Pine Lake Prep sophomore Maya Little won by 38 seconds over runner-up Sophia Champion of Lincoln Charter. Little’s teammate, Lyla Henneger, was third.

1A WEST: Corvian Community’s boys took the team title in the meet, at Bryson City. Bradford Prep was fourth and Christ the King fifth. Corvian’s Carson Williams was third, and Christ the King’s Blake Nicholson ran fourth.

Swain County edged Christ the King for the girls’ team title, with Bradford Prep fourth. Christ the King’s Nicole Alpers ran second.

This story was originally published October 26, 2024 at 6:25 PM.