Carson cross country at state meet.

Staff report

KERNERSVILLE — Carson’s boys cross country team placed third in the 3A State Championships on Saturday at Ivey Redmon Park, while South Rowan senior Eli Julian finished third individually.

Junior Jorge-Clemente Garcia’s fifth-place finish in 15:59 led the Carson boys. Bricen Burleson (19th, 16:27) and Eric Gillis (30th, 16:50) were next. James Anderson (49th, 17:13) and Connor Price (80th, 17:39) were the other Carson scorers. Chance Simmons and Micah Nguyen also competed for the Cougars, coached by Zachary Marchinko.

Croatan repeated as team champion with a score of 67. Orange (93) was second. Carson’s score was 158.

Orange’s Gabriel Schmid ran 15:14 for a repeat individual championship.

Julian finished third for the second straight year, although his time was considerably faster than it was in 2022. He ran 16:13 in 2022 and clocked 15:52 on Saturday.

South qualified as a team and was 15th in the team scoring.

Grayson Cromer (17:35), Ethan Overby (17:44), Garrison Raper (18:45) and Brian Hickman (19:03)  were the other South scorers. Also competing for the Raiders were Sam Noe and Evan Brooks.

West Rowan’s Ethan Wilson qualified as and individual and ran 18:08.