KERNERSVILLE, NC – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 2023 Cross Country State Champions were crowned at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville on Saturday. Four records were broken, including two new State Meet records, and two individuals successfully defended their titles. The Swain County, NCSSM-Durham and North Lincoln women’s teams all won their third consecutive championships.
1A Men’s Championship
In the men’s race, Christ the King’s junior Blake Nicholson set a new 1A State Meet Record and ran the first sub-16-minute 1A race in 10 years as he claimed the NCHSAA 1A Cross County Individual Championship. Nicholson crossed the finish line in 15:36.84, 15 seconds faster than the former 1A state record and 30 seconds faster than second-place finisher Andrew Harding, a junior from Northside.
Nicholson finished as runner-up in 2022 and won the 3200-meter in the 2023 NCHSAA 1A Track and Field State Championships.
Corvian Community senior Cole Fiorillo finished in third place, 12 seconds behind Harding, and Joshawa Huneycutt from South Stanly took fourth. Lejeune’s Brandon Burrows took fifth. Burrows teammate Mathew Barbabella came in ninth to help bolster the team score.
The defending 1A Champion, O’Malley Salinas from Andrews, completed the course five seconds faster in 2023 than he did in 2022 but ended up in seventh place.
In the team competition, Lejeune earned its first Cross Country Team Championship since the women’s team won in 1989 and its first-ever men’s title with a team score of 55. Lejeune’s Jude Keller and Ryder Johnson finished in 17th and 18th, respectively.
South Davidson finished in second place and Swain County finished third.
1A Women’s Championship
In the women’s race, Christ the King junior Nicole Alfers crossed the finish line first, 32 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and defending champion Dvdaya Swimmer, a sophomore from Cherokee.
Alfers and Nicholson are the first Crusaders to win NCHSAA Cross Country Individual Championships in school history.
Swimmer ran nearly one minute faster than she did in 2022 when she won the title, as she posted a 19:09.73 this year. Voyager Academy senior Elizabeth Lalor finished in third, four seconds ahead of Christ the King freshman Shea Roche.
Swain County’s Annie Lewis and 2021 champ Arizona Blankenship finished in fifth and sixth, respectively, and Angelina Lomeli came in eighth. Those finishes helped push the Maroon Devils to their third consecutive team state championship. Swain County scored 44 points, the best 1A team score since Franklin Academy’s 36 in 2017.
Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy finished in second place with 100 points and Christ the King took third with 110 points.
The NCHSAA is committed to recognizing outstanding sportsmanship in each of our State Championship events. The Association has partnered with the North Carolina Farm Bureau to award a pair of Sportsmanship Awards at each championship event, recognizing players who have demonstrated the ideals of outstanding character and sportsmanship throughout the 2023 season. The winners of the 1A Men’s Cross County Sportsmanship awards were Brandon Burrows from Lejeune and Chris Villegas from South Davidson. The winners of the 1A Women’s Cross Country Sportsmanship awards were Audrey Friedman from Thomas Jefferson Academy and Lily Bjerkness from Swain County.
2A Men’s Championship
In the men’s race, Seaforth’s Jack Anstrom won his second straight NCHSAA 2A Men’s Cross Country championship with a time of 16:07.91 on Saturday afternoon. He crossed the line 8 seconds faster than he did in 2022 and 26 seconds ahead of Rafferty Koontz from NC School of Science and Math – Durham and Leo Murray of Brevard.
Koontz claimed second place by just .18 seconds.
West Stanly senior Carson Wells edged Seaforth junior Will Cuicchi to take fourth place.
Seaforth’s Henry McFall added a 10th-place finish to help his team to a second-place finish behind an impressive performance from Brevard. The Blue Devils also had three top-10 finishes as Murry took third, Avan Hinkle came in seventh and Keaton Campbell finished ninth. Max Bailey and James Brooks added finishes of 18th and 19th, respectively. The Blue Devils scored 45 points, while Seaforth scored 103. Owen came in third with 125.
2A Women’s Championship
In the women’s race, NC School of Science and Math – Durham junior Catherine Parker won the NCHSAA 2A Women’s Cross Country Championship with a time of 18:32.64, more than 36 seconds faster than second place.
Franklin Academy senior Emily Myers came in second and West Stanly sophomore Kelsey Burleson finished third. Freshman Maya Little from Pine Lake Prep took fourth with a time of 19:26.70. and Lincoln Charter sophomore Sophia Champion came in fifth.
Two other Unicorns posted top-10 finishes as junior Carolina Downs came in sixth and senior Anika Raburn took 10th. As a team, the Unicorns scored 82 points to win the NCHSAA 2A Women’s Cross Country Championship for the third year in a row.
Manteo finished in second with 143 points and Lincoln Charter took third with 148 points.
The NCHSAA is committed to recognizing outstanding sportsmanship in each of our State Championship events. The Association has partnered with the North Carolina Farm Bureau to award a pair of Sportsmanship Awards at each championship event, recognizing players who have demonstrated the ideals of outstanding character and sportsmanship throughout the 2023 season. The winners of the 2A Men’s Cross County Sportsmanship awards were Avan Hinkle from Brevard and Will Cuicchi from Seaforth. The winners of the 2A Women’s Cross Country Sportsmanship awards were Sophia Roman from NCSSM – Durham and Abbi Calvio from Manteo.
3A Men’s Championship
In the men’s race, Orange senior Gabriel Schmid defended his NCHSAA 3A Cross Country Individual Title, posting a new Ivey Redmon 3A record and finishing the 5K course in 15:14.75. Schmid ran 30 seconds faster than he did in 2022 and broke the 3A course record by 24.25 seconds.
It was the sixth fastest mark ever at Ivey Redmon.
Croatan Senior Tyrese Cone took second place with a time of 15:48.42 and four seconds ahead of South Rowan senior Eli Julian. Union Pines sophomore Corbin Weeks took fourth, edging in front of Carson junior Jorge Clemente-Garcia by 1.2 seconds.
Croatan also defended its title as NCHSAA 3A Men’s Cross Country Champions with an even more impressive showing this season. In 2022, they won the title with 143 points; this year, they scored just 67. After Cone’s runner-up finish, Andrew Wahlgren finished in sixth and Noah Guerrero took 12th.
Orange took second with 93 points and Carson came in third with 158.
3A Women’s Championship
In the women’s race, First Flight sophomore Morgan Miller was the first to the finish line as she recorded a time of 18:05.84. She edged Fike Senior Erin Pope by less than four seconds to win the first Women’s Individual Cross Country title for First Flight.
North Lincoln sophomore Olivia Ferraro took third place with a time of 18:33.49 while a pair of seniors, Breanna Budzinski from West Henderson and Katie Johnson from North Buncombe, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
North Lincoln scored 63 points to claim their third consecutive team title. Behind Ferraro, senior Bella Wood finished seventh and freshman Cambelle Reffner took 12th to power the Knights.
First Flight finished in second with 71 points and North Buncombe took third place with 85 points.
The NCHSAA is committed to recognizing outstanding sportsmanship in each of our State Championship events. The Association has partnered with the North Carolina Farm Bureau to award a pair of Sportsmanship Awards at each championship event, recognizing players who have demonstrated the ideals of outstanding character and sportsmanship throughout the 2023 season. The winners of the 3A Men’s Cross County Sportsmanship awards Peter Musser from Orange and Tyrese Cone from Croatan. The winners of the 3A Women’s Cross Country Sportsmanship awards were Elan Eury from North Surry and Moira Furr from First Flight.
4A Men’s Championship
In the men’s race, Athens Drive senior Noah Valyo set a new 4A Ivey Redmond of 15:05.45 on the way to claiming the 2023 NCHSAA Cross Country Individual State Championship. Valyo is the first male from Athens Drive to win an Individual Cross Country title.
His time was seven seconds faster than the previous course 4A record, set by Connor Lane from Cardinal Gibbons in 2016.
Ardrey Kell senior Raghav Gopalakrishnan came in second with a time of 15:15.20, 24 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Thomas Wlazlowski, a senior from Cuthbertson. Juniors Connor Tyrrell from Riverside and Will Bradbury from Watauga rounded out the top-five.
Marvin Ridge claimed the NCHSAA 4A Men’s Cross Country Championship with 88 points, led by a ninth-place finish from junior David Firestone. Broughton finished second with 137 points and T.C. Roberson took third with 148 points.
4A Women’s Championship
In the women’s race, last year’s runner up Mary Bonner Dalton, a senior at Myers Park, came back with a vengeance in 2023. She obliterated the 4A State Meet record, becoming the first female in NCHSAA history to complete the 5k state championship race in under 17 minutes.
Dalton clipped the tape in 16:54.06, more than 50 seconds faster than her time in 2022. R.J. Reynolds senior Chandler Welsh finished in second place, 50 seconds after Dalton. Weddington senior Grace Hanson took third and Hoggard senior Ashlei Summers placed fourth.
Cardinal Gibbons junior teammates Hannah Rae Shaffer and Addy Mitchell took fifth and sixth, respectively. As a team, Cardinal Gibbons scored 60 points to claim their 14th NCHSAA Women’s Cross Country title and fifth as a 4A program.
Cutherbertson’s five-year run of state championships (18-20 as 3A, 21-22 as 4A) came to an end with a runner-up finish Saturday, 45 points behind Cardinal Gibbons.
The NCHSAA is committed to recognizing outstanding sportsmanship in each of our State Championship events. The Association has partnered with the North Carolina Farm Bureau to award a pair of Sportsmanship Awards at each championship event, recognizing players who have demonstrated the ideals of outstanding character and sportsmanship throughout the 2023 season. The winners of the 4A Men’s Cross County Sportsmanship awards were Will Heyde from Marvin Ridge and Marr Lakins from Broughton. The winners of the 2A Women’s Cross Country Sportsmanship awards were Catherine Lorelle from Cardinal Gibbons and Stella Kermes from Cuthbertson.
