From staff reports
East Rowan’s boys and Salisbury’s girls reign again as Rowan County cross country champions.
East’s boys won the county meet for the second time in a row and fifth time in six seasons at Dan Nicholas Park on Wednesday, while the Hornet girls posted their fourth straight triumph.
Salisbury’s Nick Summers ran a time of 16:30.2 and nosed out East’s defending champion Ross Oden by two-tenths of a second for the individual boys title. Salisbury’s Philip Tonseth was third, with South’s Michael York fourth.
East won the boys title by a comfortable margin with a team score of 29. Scorers for the Mustangs were Ross Oden (2nd), Cole Honeycutt (5th), Brad Oden (6th), Eli Walton (7th) and Preston Dixon (9th).
Following the Mustangs were South (48), Salisbury (75), West (108), Carson (115) and North (174).
n Salisbury’s Katherine Shields won the girls individual championship by nearly 46 seconds. She ran 20:11.2.
Emily Shields, Katherine’s sister, placed second. West’s Leslie Pence, the defending champion, was third.
Salisbury’s girls scored 54 points to edge Carson (57). Next were South (63), East (75) and West (98).
Joining the Shields sisters as scorers for Salisbury were Karen Presnell (5th), Jenna Bryan (20th) and Margaret Kaufman (26th).
Sierra Zemanick’s fourth-place finish paced Carson. Jordan Murdock (7th), Devan Purvis (9th), Sarah Holman (18th) and Alex Hunter (19th) were other scorers for the Cougars.
Kristen Hatley was sixth to lead East’s girls.
n Prep girls tennis
Salisbury completed an unbeaten regular season with a 9-0 CCC win against East Davidson on Wednesday.
Hannah Lebowitz, Joy Loeblein, Mary Margaret Mills, Sarah Shirley, Alex Yarborough and Mally Fisher racked up singles wins for coach Chris Myers’ Hornets (18-0, 10-0 CCC).
Sallie Kate Meyerhoeffer-Caroline Graham, Meredith Hovis-Lauren Gray and Jordan Pring-Savannah Ware won in doubles.
n Carson’s girls wrapped up a third-place finish in the NPC with a 9-0 win against West Iredell on Tuesday.
Kelly Dulkoski, Carol Brown, Hannah Shinn, Elizabeth Hefner, Haylee Hepler and Rena Ogle were singles winners for the Cougars (8-4 NPC). Dulkoski-Brown, Shinn-Jada Holloway and Nicole Beaver-Julie Tonnesen won in doubles.
n East Rowan defeated South Rowan 9-0 on Wednesday. Brittany Honeycutt, Devan Corpening, Megan Bullins, Kayela Wilson, Katie Cassady and Hannah Pressley won in singles for the Mustangs.
Honeycutt-Corpening, Bullins-Wilson and Cassady-Brett Kesler won in doubles.
East finishes the regular season today. If East and Statesville finish tied for first, East will play Statesville on Monday at West Rowan to determine the NPC’s No. 1 seed for the dual team 3A state playoffs.
n West Rowan beat North Iredell 7-2 in an NPC matchup on Wednesday.
Sarah Teel, Kate Ritchie, Madison Rusher, Ellen Watts and Maggie Daniel won in singles for West. Doubles winners were Teel-Ritchie and Rusher-Watts.
n North Rowan topped North Moore 8-1 on Wednesday to wrap up third place in the YVC. Coach Sallie Hundley’s Cavaliers were 10-4 in league play.
Corbin Bennett, Diamond Jackson, Kayla Morgan, Haley Ridenhour and Caitlin Crawford won in singles. Doubles winners were Bennett-Jackson, Kelli Berry-Crawford and Morgan-Ridenhour.
“This was a very strong match to finish the regular season,” Hundley said. “This will give us some good momentum heading into the conference tournament.”
n Prep soccer
East Rowan lost to West Iredell 2-0 in a battle for fourth place in the NPC on Wednesday.
West Iredell took 17 shots in the first half, but East keeper Dillon Arey made 10 saves to keep East in the match.
The Warriors’ first goal was disputed. East coach John McNeil claimed the ball hit the bar and caromed back out, but a goal was awarded.
“I’m not really sure what to say about that one,” McNeil said. “It hit the bar and the next thing I know we are starting play from the center circle down 1-0. That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
West Iredell’s second goal was legit, an 18-yard rip by Craig Vang. Neither team scored in the second half.
” West Iredell played their tails off and they deserve a lot of credit for sticking it to us tonight ó they came out fired up and ready to go,” McNeil said. “We came out fired up too, but we got deflated a little after that first goal and only recovered after the second.”
n Carson lost to Statesville 5-4 in overtime.
n Prep golf
Both Salisbury and Greensboro Grimsley shot 139 on the difficult Starmount Forest Country Club layout in Greensboro on Wednesday.
Davie shot 163.
Lily Yatawara carded a 44 to lead the Hornets. Other scores were Madison Kennedy (47), Catherine Parks (48), Amber Lyerly (49) and Brooke Smith (57).
Grimsley’s Molly Plomaritis was medalist with a 43.
Caitlin Brake’s 44 led the War Eagles.
n Catawba soccer
Catawba’s women’s team beat SAC rival Lenoir-Rhyne 3-1 on Wednesday at Frock Field. Tasha Wilhelm had a goal and an assist for the Indians (8-3-1, 3-1). Katie Gair and Maria Borland also scored.n Catawba’s men’s team fell to Lenoir-Rhyne 3-2. Andrew Landry scored twice for the Indians (4-6-1, 0-2-1).
n Softball
West Rowan Middle beat Knox 17-0 on Wednesday.
Kristine South pitched a no-hitter for West (5-5).
South and Mackenzie Dixon smacked three hits each. Michaela White and Catherine Whitley had two apiece. Whitley hit a home run.