Boys 3A East Region
Teams to Watch
Defending champion Northern Nash is back, and despite losing 3 seniors from their 2014 squad the Knights have the top returning 5K group. The competition isn't far behind, though, and this year could end up being a much tighter battle for the team title than was the case last year. Topsail and Corinth Holders both have enough talent back to make a serious run, and both had strong team results during track season. So did Cleveland and Swansboro, for that matter, which might indicate that there are 5 teams in contention for the 4 state meet spots from the 3A East. That's an exciting situation for fans of the sport, and that level of competition will hopefully sharpen the advancing teams from what has traditionally been one of the weaker teams in the classification.
Athletes to Watch
Did the competition catch up to the returning champion during track season? Jacob Gonzalez (South Johnston) was the man in the 3A East last fall, but Patrick Myers (Corinth Holders) posted the best 1600 time in the region, and Gable Dershem (Cleveland) topped the 3200 list. You certainly can't count out Stephen Whitehead (Northern Nash), either. This is one of the few regions where the established 5K returners also dominated the track rankings, without any surprising newcomers making the potential leap into the top 5. It's going to be hard for anyone to break into the top 5 here.
Top 5 Returning Teams (Full Rankings)
| # | Team | Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Nash | 82 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 40 | - | - |
| 2 | Topsail | 105 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 51 | - | - |
| 3 | Corinth Holders | 120 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 27 | 57 | - | - |
| 4 | Swansboro | 157 | 17 | 23 | 33 | 38 | 46 | - | - |
| 5 | Cleveland High School | 169 | 2 | 5 | 39 | 43 | 80 | - | - |
Top 10 Returning Individuals (Full Rankings)
| Place | Athlete | Yr | Team | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Gonzalez | 10 | South Johnston | 15:44.00 | 1 | |
| 2 | Gable Dershem | 10 | Cleveland High School | 16:04.00 | 2 | |
| 3 | Stephen Whitehead | 11 | Northern Nash | 16:08.00 | 3 | |
| 4 | Aaron Rand | 11 | Richlands | 16:14.00 | 4 | |
| 5 | Wyatt Dershem | 10 | Cleveland High School | 16:15.00 | 5 | |
| 6 | Patrick Myers | 10 | Corinth Holders | 16:19.00 | 6 | |
| 7 | Daniel Belton | 10 | Northern Nash | 16:28.56 | 7 | |
| 8 | Trent Pyrtle | 11 | Topsail | 16:46.00 | 8 | |
| 9 | Austin Carroll | 10 | Corinth Holders | 16:50.00 | 9 | |
| 10 | Coleman Cherry | 11 | Northern Nash | 16:54.6 | 10 |