3200m
Catherine Parker continued her 2A distance dominance, taking home her fourth victory of the day in the 2A 3200, running 11:16.68 for a comfortable victory. Abby Pike of Pine Lake Preparatory was second in 11:49.59, Fatima Cepeda of East Davidson finished third at 12:02.85, and Sophia Champion was fourth in 12:03.32.
Our final event of Friday's action was in the 4A girls 3200 meters. A matchup many were looking forward to would finally come to fruition this season with Notre Dame commit Mary Bonner Dalton of Myers Park and North Carolina commit Hannah Rae Shaffer of Cardinal Gibbons. This would be a rematch of last year's 4A 3200 State Championship and a chance for Shaffer to get redemption after she placed second to Dalton last year. A confident Dalton went straight to the lead and would make it an honest pace, separating Dalton and Shaffer from the rest of the field early, hitting the halfway point at 5:08.74. As Dalton continued to hammer away at 78 second laps up front, a gap between Dalton and Shaffer slowly began to form. Dalton would seal the deal with a final lap time of 1:17.74 to win another state championship in a time of 10:23.71, further cementing herself as one of the greatest distance runners North Carolina has ever seen. Shaffer was the runner-up in 10:29.29, followed by sophomore Sofi Alexander of Asheville running a personal best of 10:33.28 for third and Bronwyn Parks coming back from her winning 4x800m anchor leg to finish fourth in 10:35.58.
Arizona Blankenship of Swain County took her third win of the day in the 1A 3200, going wire to wire to cross the line first in 11:00.45. Nicole Alfers of Christ the King took the silver in a personal beat at 11:06.33.
In the 3A 3200, we saw Erin Pope of Fike High School take down favorite coming in 3A cross country state champion Morgan Miller of First Flight. Pope confidently went to the lead and never relinquished it in an impressive display of front running, taking the win in a 3A state championship meeting record of 10:51.45. Miller finished second in 11:15.86, followed by Ellie Harrington at 11:27.24 for third, and Morgan Cress of Franklin rounding out the podium in fourth at 11:31.50.