Watauga finished its first cross country scrimmage of the season by taking six of the top 10 finishes in the boys' race and three in the girls', held at the Greenway Course Wednesday afternoon.
Luke Nelson won the boys' event with a time of 10 minutes, 44 seconds. Brooks Forsyth was fourth with an 11:22, while Will Barbour was fifth with an 11:33.
"(Nelson's) ahead of last year because of the summer training he put in," Pioneers coach Randy McDonough said. "That's going to be a great head start for him this year. He worked very hard and he's going to see the benefits."
The Pioneers' Jordan Trivette (11:34), was sixth. Zeb Sanders finished seventh (11:15) and Wesley Tempelton eighth (11:53).
Phillip Curley, running for School of Science and Math, took second. Wilkes Central's Jesse Poarch was third.
In the girls' race, Ava Zimmerman took top honors with a time of 12:40. Dolly Dollars was third with a 13:21, while Bridgette McLean was fifth with a 13:52.
"She's a hard worker. Sometimes she's too hard a worker," McDonough said of Zimmerman. "We're trying to ease her back a bit, but she worked hard this summer and it's showing."