1600m
In the 2A 1600 meters, we would see Catherine Parker return to the line from her 4x800m win to rack up some more points for her team. Parker stayed conservative through the first two laps, sitting back in the pack as Maya Little from Pine Lake Preparatory took the field through 800 meters at 2:38.79. With one lap to go, Parker would pull away from Little and the rest of the field, running a 1:11.23 last lap to take the win in 5:06.41. Little took runner-up in 5:13.08.
In the 4A 1600, Charlotte Bell and the girls from Cuthbertson put together one of the most impressive distance performances in a North Carolina state championship ever. The Georgetown commit would take the pace out hot early at 1:09.42, followed by her teammates, North Carolina State commit Justine Preisano at 1:10.18 and Virgina commit Stella Kermes at 1:10.34. Bell would not let the pace slow, going 1:09.73, 1:09.99, and 1:09.77 on her final lap to take the victory in a new meet record, US #5 and NC #1 4:38.92. Her teammates would make it a Cuthbertson top-three sweep, with Preisano finishing out in 4:44.27 and Kermes running 4:44.66 for third; these are NC #2 and NC #3 performances for the season behind their teammate Bell. Kasey Dingman of Lake Norman would run a new personal best of 4:50.50 to take fourth.
Swain County continued to flex their 1A distance dominance, going 1-2 in the 1600. Arizona Blankenship and Angelina Lomelli would find each other as soon as the gun went off and work together throughout the race. Blankenship would pull away from her teammate to take the win in 5:06.64; Lomelli followed behind at a personal best of 5:13.85; Brooke Haynes ran 5:28.94 for third; and Elizabeth Lalor rounded out the podium in fourth, running 5:29.26.
In the girls 3A 1600, we saw fast times galore. Lily Yampolsky of Lake Norman Charter went to the lead to control the race early on, taking the field through in a quick 1:10.07 for the first 400 meters. Yampolsky would continue leading through three laps when Olivia Ferraro of North Lincoln made her move after staying patient all race, dropping the fastest last lap in the field by five whole seconds, closing down in 1:10.73 to run 4:54.29, a new 3A state championship meeting record. Yampolsky held on for second, going under five minutes in 4:58.85, followed by Erin Pope of Fike High School running 4:59.27 and Kayla Folkes at 5:09.22 for third and fourth, respectively.