Jacksonville's Henderson claims regional crown

 GREENVILLE - Jacksonville High School senior Ryanna Henderson won the 3-A East Regional cross country title to help lift the Cardinals to a second place finish heading into the NCHSAA state championship this week.

Swansboro junior Ben Sterett finished first place to help the Swansboro boys' team to win the 2-A East Regional title with 59 points, while the Croatan girls' team won the 2-A title with a score of 34.

Henderson won the regional title Saturday with a time of 19 minutes, 58.29 seconds to easily beat out Wilson Fike's Beth Hanson, who was second at 20:20.43. White Oak's Rachel Johnston finished fourth at 20:34.57 while Jacksonville's Megan Bucek was seventh in 21:08.24.

The top 10 earn first-team all-region honors.

West Carteret won the girls' region team title with 50 points while Jacksonville was second at 81. White Oak was fourth with 121 points. The Cardinals have finished first or second four straight years.

Henderson earned all-region honors for the third straight year. It was also the second year in a row a Jacksonville runner has won the region crown. Kaitlyn Davis won it last year.

Both Jacksonville and White Oak advance to the state championship Saturday at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem.

In the boys' region meet, White Oak finished third with 102 points, behind Nash Central (37) and West Carteret (87). White Oak, which advances to the state meet, was led by Josh Drew, who finished fifth in 17:09.30.

Jacksonville was fifth (168) in the team competition. Daweet Dagnachew finished seventh in 17:12.99 to advance to the state meet as an individual competitor.

Croatan finished second (73) for the boys' while Richlands (87) was fourth, East Duplin (147) was seventh and Southwest (245) ended at ninth.

Richlands John Raborn finished second and Jamar Davis was sixth. Ronnie Venegas finished fifth for East Duplin and Swansboro Mario Colon was eighth.

Swansboro girls' team (58) finished third, East Duplin (114) was fourth and Richlands (156) finished sixth.

Abby Fuquay finished second while her teammates Kendra Corn finished third and Kayla Baker ended in fourth for Croatan. East Duplin's Kori Lego finished sixth and Toni Bista was ninth for Northside. Brooke Kinsey was eighth and Hannah Freeman finished 10th for Swansboro.

3-A BOYS

TEAM: Nash Central 37, West Carteret 87, White Oak 102, D.H. Conley 122, Jacksonville 168, Havelock 169, Wilson Fike 192, South Central 232, Northern Nash 234, Wilson Hunt 280, Rocky Mount 291, Southern Nash 334, Eastern Wayne 343, Southern Wayne 351, Currituck 354, C.B. Aycock 438, West Brunswick 480, Washington 484.

INDIVIDUAL:  JHS: 7. Daweet Dagnachew 17:12.99; 24. Cal Sligh 18:28; 41. Josh Hanks 18:52; 42. Zack Davis 18:53; 55. Kristiaan Sheedy 19:20; 56. Stewart Cartmell 19:21; 85. Jared Amos 20:40. WO: 5.Josh Drew 17:09.30; 11. Thomas Hart 17:47; 18. Andrew Tiralongo 18:17; 30. Will Shelley 18:33; 38. Justin Stalvey 18:43; 74. Jacob Schultz 20:23.

3-A GIRLS

TEAM: West Carteret 50, Jacksonville 81, Rocky Mount 114, White Oak 121, Wilson Fike 144, Nash Central 188, Northern Nash 193, South Central 201, Eastern Wayne 239, Currituck 240, Havelock 254, D.H. Conley 263, Wilson Hunt 326, Southern Wayne 384

INDIVIDUAL: JHS: 1. Ryanna Henderson 19:58.29; 7. Megan Bucek 21:08.24; 16. Rachael Tuton 21:54; 22. Hannah Smith 22:22; 35. Jordan Snyder 23:01; 49. Chloe Mathis 23:52; 52. Maria Henderson 24:14. WO: 4. Rachel Johnston 20:34.57; 18. Hallie Altman 22:12; 25. Kali Drake 22:30; 34. Santina Tate 22:58; 40. Eboney Weatherbee 23:15; 50. Maya Baxter 24:08; 71. Sara Susalia 25:30.

2-A BOYS

TEAM: Swansboro 59, Croatan 73, First Flight 78, Richlands 87, South Lenoir 105, South Brunswick 147, East Duplin 147, Southwest 245, Edenton Holmes 250.

INDIVIDUAL: S: 1. Ben Sterett 16:54; 7. Mario Colon 18:30; 12. Dick Jacob 18:52; 14. Ken Pangborn 19:04; 34. Dearius Daniels 20:09; 45. Kevyn Price 21:06; 55. Grant Kinsey 22:03. Cro.: 11. Sam Choate 18:51; 15. Brandon Fulford 19:05; 18. Ryan Blackwell 19:08; 20. Thomas Frank 19:12; 23. Jonathan Garrett 19:29; 24. Kevin Simmons 19:36; 30. Kyle Boyd 20:02. RHS: 4. John Raborn 17:52; 6. Jamar Davis 18:19; Patrick Kolb 19:12; 28. Ethan Scott 19:54; 46. Chance Welch 21:10; 53. Josh Plummer 21:56; 58. Steven Sobe 22:57. ED: 5. Ronnie Venegas 17:57; 22. Carols Garcia 19:26; 33. Nick Lee 20:09; 54. Justin Dutton 22:03; 59. Kagan Sturgill 22:59; 65. Daniel Carta 24:08. SWO: 47. Brandon Elliot 21:19; 56. Frank Bunhanan 22:10, 61. Tony Brenes 23:36; 62. Corry Botzenhart 23:38; 64: Cory Lawson 23:50; 73. Coby Buchanan 28:41. NS: 29. Jacob Thomas 20:00; 35. Brandon Davis 20:17; 38. Troy Mulder 20:23; 70. Craig Dubois 26:11.

2-A GIRLS

TEAM: Croatan 34, First Flight 54, Swansboro 58, East Duplin 114, South Lenoir 130, Richlands 156, South Brunswick 162.

INDIVIDUAL: Cro.: 2. Abby Fuquay 21:50; 3. Kendra Dorn 22:03; 4. Kayla Baker 22:05; 13. Dana Guthrie 24:10; 16. Jacqueline Stabb 24:29; 17. Kristel Harlacher 24:41; 19. Julie Robbins 24:43. S: 8. Brooke Kinsey 22:40; 10. Hannah Freeman 23:36; 14. Ali Grass 24:17; 15. Lindsey Yingling 24:25; 20. Lisa Moffitt 24:43; 21. Crystan Weaver 24:59. ED: 6. Kori Lego 22:26; 24. Jessie Garnica 25:35; Keala Cotton 25:51; 27. Vivians Deleon26:41; 46. Hedlinda Venegas 32:59. RHS: 26. Rlizabeth Moser 25:55; 31. Andrea Reynolds 27:19; 37. Kassy Mosley 28:50; 38: Liz Venegas 28:52; 45. Christa Rhodes 32:09; 48. Torrey Slegers 33:36. NS: 9. Toni Bista 23:06; 36. Catherine Hensley 28:44.