East Bladen’s Smith, DeVane end seasons in state championship

KERNERSVILLE — Senior A.J. Smith and junior Cate DeVane completed the journey to becoming East Bladen’s first runners at the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s 2-A state championship meet Friday afternoon.

Smith toured the 5,000-meter Redmon Complex course in 18 minutes, 48.95 seconds to finish 61st of 100 runners. He was the only Three Rivers Conference boys runner in the Mideast Regional in Cary, where he ran ninth in 19:08.91.

Smith, who missed last year’s postseason with an injury, was undefeated in five Three Rivers races in a season delayed by the coronavirus and ran between November and January rather than September to November. His times were 19:06, 18:04, 18:07, 18:17 and 20:06. As a sophomore, Smith was fourth in the league championship and 43rd in the Mideast Regional.

DeVane was 67th in the girls race, running a 24:20.30 in the 94-athlete field. She was the only Three Rivers runner to advance from the Mideast Regional, where she ran 10th in a season-best 24:13.65.

DeVane scored three firsts, a second and a fifth during the Three Rivers season. Her times were 26:08, 26:03, 25:24, 25:51 and 26:30. She improved upon a sophomore season when she ran fifth in the league championship and 45th in the Mideast Regional.

Walter Sellers, a senior at Winston-Salem’s Atkins High, sprinted to the boys state championship in 15:40.86, more than a half-minute ahead of North Lincolin teammates Miles Phillips (15:51.39) and Jacob Scott (15:54.64). North Lincoln won its fourth consecutive team title, scoring second, third, seventh, eighth and 20th place finishes to runner-up Atkins’ first, ninth, 10th, 28th and 31st.

Croatan was third with 89 points, First Flight fourth with 100 and South Rowan fifth with 151.

Rounding out the state’s 10 best were Croatan’s Elliott Kleckner in fourth (16:00.34), followed by First Flight’s Tyler Sylvia (16:17.30), Franklin’s Ethan Stamey (16:20.83), North Lincoln’s Stephen Fernetti (16:24.83) and Jared Campbell (16:29.71), and Atkins’ Mason Rudel (16:32.71) and Andrew Burrell (16:35.84).

Ryker Mattioli, the Durham School of the Arts senior who won the Mideast Regional, was 12th.

Angie Allen, a senior at North Lincoln, was more than a minute ahead of the field running an 18:05.50 to win her second straight girls state championship. Only 42 of the 100 boys had a better time. Allen led her team to its first state title and reset the course record she established last year when running 18:42.23.

Lincolnton’s Katherine Hopkins was second in 19:23.93, Croatan’s Navaya Zales third in 19:30.96, Carrboro’s Hannah Preisser — the Mideast champion — fourth in 19:36.77, and Franklin’s Dylan Garcia fifth in 19:39.24.

Rounding out the top 10 were First Flight’s Lucy Stecher (19:50.85), North Lincoln’s Lori Glavan (19:53.22), Rutherford-Spindale Central’s Brooke Hope (19:58.63), Lake Norman’s Lily Yampolsky (20:00.23) and Fred T. Foard’s Karina Coulter (20:02.85).

North Lincoln ruled the afternoon with 42 points, garnering first, fifth, 11th, 12th and 13th place finishes. Its other two runners were 16th and 33rd. Lake Norman Charter was second with 62 points, with finishes of sixth, eighth, 14th, 15th and 19th. Carrboro ran third with 84 points, First Flight fourth with 99 and Croatan fifth with 144.