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First Flight’s Morgan Miller defended her North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A State Cross Country title Saturday, November 2 with a time of 18:04.99.

Running a hilly 5000 meter loop around the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex at Kernersville, the Nighthawks junior moved to the front of the pack near the halfway mark and held the lead throughout the rest of the race.

Finishing more than 8 seconds ahead of second place Georgy Helmers (E.E. Smith), Miller’s time was almost a full second faster than her 2023 time and the third fastest of the day from all four race divisions.

In a milesplit.com interview following the race, Miller said she is not normally a front runner and that taking an early lead was a risky move that paid off. In her 2023 win Miller trailed two other runners before taking the lead in the final 200 meters.

Team scores put North Lincoln 3A girls in first and First Flight in second.

First Flight boys finished fifth in team standings with Chase Matis the top Nighthawks runner in 29th place with a time of 17:05.41.

Currituck also had individual non-scoring runners in the 3A field.

In 2A competition, Meredith Gaskill finished in 18th place with a time of 20:46.89 to help place Manteo girls in 11th place overall and Samuel Head clocked a 17:20.51 for 28th place to lead Manteo boys to a ninth place team finish.

Results for area runners in the November 2 NCHSAA State Cross Country Championships at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex at Kernersville include:

3A Girls 5k Run
1 Morgan Miller (First Flight) 18:04.99
9 Kayla Folkes (First Flight) 19:20.66
25 Savannah Tyson (First Flight) 20:08.15
53 Rebekah Newell (First Flight) 21:15.09
74 Kylee Dinterman (Currituck County) 21:51.09
81 Shelby Chercka (First Flight) 22:17.48
104 Claire Meads (First Flight) 22:58.32
106 Riley Prewitt (Currituck County) 23:04.20
130 Celia Hawk (First Flight) 25:06.82

3A Boys 5k Run
29 Chase Matis (First Flight) 17:05.41
36 Liam Minnich (First Flight) 17:09.45
47 Deacon Parker (First Flight) 17:23.11
63 Karter Tucker (First Flight) 17:38.66
66 Adlai Berryman (First Flight) 17:44.35
70 Oliver Green (Currituck County) 17:49.14
80 Camden Lenz (Currituck County) 17:58.29
96 Alex Lutz (First Flight) 18:25.17
140 Graham Evans (First Flight) 19:28.75

2A Girls 5k Run
18 Meredith Gaskill (Manteo) 20:46.89
43 Mackenzie Flynn (Manteo) 21:40.10
74 Abbi Calvio (Manteo) 22:51.13
104 Jennifer Pena-Munoz (Manteo) 24:14.82
122 Leslie Alvarez (Manteo) 25:46.60
126 Cora Martin 9 (Manteo) 26:58.77

2A Boys 5k Run
28 Samuel Head (Manteo) 17:20.51
51 Luke Stevens (Manteo) 18:06.01
63 Ezekiel Leary (Manteo) 18:21.83
73 Solomon Cooper (Manteo) 18:40.69
113 Austin Godfrey (Manteo) 19:59.59
126 Nicholas Jacquelin (Manteo) 21:44.22
130 Toby Fleckenstein (Manteo) 22:17.94

3A Girls 5000 Meter Run Finals Team Scores
1 North Lincoln 56
2 First Flight 125
3 West Henderson 143
4 Croatan 174
5 Lake Norman Charter School 180
6 A.C. Reynolds 183
7 Cedar Ridge 205
8 North Buncombe 214
9 West Carteret 224
10 North Iredell 233
11 Swansboro 244
12 Orange 283
13 Carrboro 292
14 Central Davidson 351
15 Oak Grove High School 357
16 Piedmont 388
17 Union Pines 401

3A Boys 5000 Meter Run Finals Team Scores
1 Orange 63
2 North Lincoln 96
3 North Buncombe 130
4 West Henderson 156
5 First Flight 198
6 Croatan 199
7 Atkins 256
8 Parkwood 257
9 Oak Grove High School 265
10 Cedar Ridge 268
11 A.C. Reynolds 275
12 Northern Nash 280
13 Union Pines 295
14 Swansboro 358
15 West Johnston 362
16 Kings Mountain 377
17 West Carteret 387
18 White Oak 402
19 Central Academy of Technology 452
20 North Iredell 455
21 West Rowan 484

2A Girls 5000 Meter Run Finals Team Scores
1 NC School of Science & Math 75
2 Seaforth High School 90
3 Pine Lake Preparatory 119
4 West Stokes 125
5 Lincoln Charter 130
6 Wilkes Central 167
7 Brevard 168
8 West Stanly
9 Northwood 219
10 Community School of Davidson 236
11 Manteo 284
12 Camden County 302
13 East Davidson 334
14 Franklin Academy 337
15 East Duplin 369
16 Goldsboro 485

2A Boys 5000 Meter Run Finals Team Scores
1 Brevard 37
2 Seaforth High School 89
3 Owen, Charles D. 111
4 West Stokes 156
5 Franklin Academy 161
6 NC School of Science & Math 171
7 Lincoln Charter 176
8 Research Triangle 202
9 Manteo 241
10 East Davidson 253
11 Shelby 297
12 Wilkes Central 298
13 Surry Central 303
14 South Lenoir 311
15 Farmville Central 399
16 Spring Creek 484

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