Durham Academy's boys came in as the favorites, led by Carl & Fred Ward. Carl placed 2nd overall for DA, finishing in a time of 16:23. Just like birth, these twins were not separated by much time at all, as Fred came across the line in 16:24 in 3rd place. Erik Kraus, also a junior along with the twins, placed 5th overall, giving Durham Academy a very nasty top 3 overall. These were the only DA atheltes to place among the top-11, but it's all they needed to still win by 20 points. Durham Academy scored a team low of 55 points. Concluding the scoring for DA was Michael Cunningham who placed 15th overall and David Bradley in 28th. Durham Academy looks to return just about everyone from this team, as some of them don't have years listed in the NCRunners.com database. So like Charlotte Latin's girls, this team could be back to repeat next year.
However, they will have to compete with a MUCH improved team from Cary Academy. Led by the #1 runner in the NCISAA 3A, Thomas Graham earned the lowest point total possible as the won the state title. He was followed by a group of boys who were obviously peaking at the right time. CA's #2 was Dorian Crawford who came in with a PR of 18:07 from last week's TISAC meet, but ran 17:06, grabbing 10th place overall. What a huge personal best! Colin Godwin went from a PR of 17:56 to 17:21 to run #3 for CA. 4th was Alex Coeytaux in 17:37, a season PR and 5th was Eric Kofman, also running a lifetime PR. Cary Academy placed 6 in front of DA's #5, but couldn't compete with the front 3 from Durham Academy.
Chase Shermer of North Raleigh Christian took the pace out very quickly at the start and led for the first 500m or so. However, once Thomas Graham took over, the individual title was in the bag. Thomas has had a solid year, running a 15:15 earlier this season on the WakeMed course. This is his 2nd NCISAA 3A state title and he's only a sophomore! Looking back it doesn't look like any boy has ever won 4 XC titles in their career, so Thomas is obvioulsy off to a great start.
Here's a look at the top 11, All-State runners.
1 Thomas Graham Cary Academy 15:38 5:03/M (sophomore)
2 Carl Ward Durham Academy 16:23 5:17/M (junior)
3 Fred Ward Durham Academy 16:24 5:17/M (junior)
4 Tim Gruber Cannon School 16:37 5:22/M (sophomore)
5 Erik Kraus Durham Academy 16:47 5:25/M (senior)
6 Andrew Powell Cannon School 16:55 5:27/M (junior)
7 Reed Payne Providence Day School 16:55 5:27/M (sophomore)
8 Jacob Dordick Providence Day School 16:56 5:28/M (junior)
9 Luke Robinson Charlotte Christian 17:01 5:29/M (junior)
10 Dorian Crawford Cary Academy 17:06 5:31/M (senior)
11 Drew Thompson Wesleyan Christian Academy 17:07 5:31/M (sophomore)
With 10 of the top 11 returning next year, the 3A boys should be a very quick race!