Staff report

2A Midwest Regional

DOBSON — Competing at Fisher River Park, South Rowan’s boys finished third in Saturday morning’s 2A Midwest Regional.

Coach Scott Julian’s Raiders qualified as a team for the state championships for the first time in program history and will compete next week at Ivey Redmon Park in Kernersville.

Winston-Salem Atkins won the regional with a score of 56. The Camels were followed by four squads from the Central Carolina Conference — Oak Grove (123), South Rowan (129), Central Davidson (142) and East Davidson (162). Twenty-one squads had the minimum of five runners needed to post a team score. The top five teams advanced to the state meet.

South junior Noah Julian, the Rowan County and CCC champion, ran 16:54 to take third place individually.

South other scorers were senior Ian Waugh (16th, 17:55), junior Landon Cromer (26th, 18:13), junior Nolan Miller (38th, 18:30) and senior Trent Rivers (49th, 19:01). Also competing for the Raiders were senior Corey Snodgrass (75th, 19:51) and senior Tyler Sheets (95th, 20:49).

The top runner for Salisbury was junior Michael Lowry (56th,  19:07). The Hornets were 16th in team scoring with 434.

Atkins’ Ben Armentrout won in 16:26.

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In the girls race at Fisher River Park, South Rowan was 11th, while Salisbury was 13th.

CCC champ East Davidson led the team scoring and was the only CCC team in the top five. West Stanly was runner-up.

The Hornets got strong runs from sophomore Sutton Webb (17th, 22:24) and senior Leah Cressler (18th, 22:27).

Webb missed making the state meet as an individual by 13 seconds. Brooklyn Lester of Surry Central ran 22:11 and got the last spot.

South Rowan was led by sophomore Bethany Rymer (21st, 22:41), senior Madison McGuire (31st, 23:11) and junior Zoey Nichols (40th, 23:33).

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3A West Regional

MORGANTON — Competing on the Freedom High course, the Carson girls also made history on Saturday morning, scoring 159 and qualifying their team for the state meet for the first time.

Five teams advanced. Carson took fifth, behind four mountain teams — Watauga (30), A.C. Reynolds (49), Asheville (127) and T.C. Roberson (145).

North Iredell’s Furman-bound Jonna Strange was the regional champ. She ran 17:54 and won by nearly two minutes.

East Rowan senior Adalie Harrison, the Rowan County champ, ran 20:56 for 16th place and qualified for the state meet as an individual. The top seven individuals who weren’t on one of the qualifying teams advanced to the state event. East’s team finished 19th.

Carson’s scorers were senior Taylor Conrad (19th, 21:15), sophomore Camden Corley (31st, 21:51), freshman Makayla Borst (32nd, 21:55), junior Carly Green (38th, 22:13) and senior Kimberly Barrera (39th, 22:14). Also competing for the Cougars were senior Megan Deal (62nd, 23:03) and senior Victoria Lemasters (67th, 23:27).

West Rowan’s four runners were led by junior Megyn Spicer (73rd, 23:46).

Statesville senior Maddie Simmons (21st, 21:20) qualified as an individual.

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In the boys race in Morganton, Carson senior Zac Barbee placed 11th in 16:58 and grabbed one of the individual berths for the state meet next Saturday in Kernersville.

Carson’s team finished 10th out 23 teams posting team scores. Junior TJ Jones (58th, 18:28) and senior John Sokolowski (61st, 18:34) were the next-fastest Cougars.

West Rowan placed seventh in the team scoring. Junior Luke Harrison (48th, 18:12), sophomore Issac Castro (49th, 18:15), junior Damian Ackman (51st, 18:22), junior Jacob Bogle (53rd, 18:25) and senior Drake Barclay (57th, 18:27) were tightly bunched.

Sophomore Thomas Ferguson (40th, 17:56) was the standout for East Rowan.

Watauga senior Avery Cannon won in 16:00 and led the Pioneers to the team title.