2008 STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS SLATED FOR SATURDAY AT TANGLEWOOD PARK

WINSTON-SALEM–The North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championships in cross-country for both men and women will be held at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons on Saturday.

Top runners from across the state qualified from regional competition last week to the state finals in each classification. The eight cross-country championships include one in each of the NCHSAA’s four classifications for men and women. The first race of the day will be the 4-A men’s championship at 10 am, followed by the 3-A men, 4-A women and 3-A women at thirty-minute intervals. After a break, the program will gear back up at 2 pm with the 2-A men, followed by 1-A men, 2-A women and 1-A women.

Two seniors will be seeking to win their third consecutive individual state championship in the 4-A meets. Chapel Hill’s Taylor Gilland in the men’s competition and Kim Spano of North Mecklenburg among the women are back to defend their crowns.

Broughton is the defending men’s 4-A champion while Chapel Hill has won the last three women’s state titles.

In the 3-A classification, T.C. Roberson has won the last four women’s state championships while Mooresville has two in a row among the men.

Charles D. Owen has won three of the last four 2-A men’s titles while East Wilkes is the defending men’s 1-A team champ. On the women’s side, Cardinal Gibbons has won the last three 2-A crowns in succession while last year Hampstead Topsail captured the 1-A, snapping a string of titles by mountain power Hayesville at four.

Topsail’s Zatha Loewen, only a junior, is gunning for her third straight 1-A individual title in the women’s competition after winning as a freshman and a sophomore.

Visit Winston-Salem serves as the host city sponsor for the cross-country championships. Visit Winston-Salem is the official destination marketing organization of the Forsyth County Tourism Development Authority.