Kernersville – Hiwassee Dam’s Ethan Russell came in second place during the N.C. High School Athletic Association cross country state championship meet Saturday.
Russell ran a 16:03 to secure second place by 13 seconds. Hiwassee Dam freshman Oscar Page came in seventh place with a time of 17:02. Russell and Page were named All-State for their performance.
Also from Hiwassee Dam, Maverick Hawley came in 39th place, Abel Penland came in 59th, Xavier Johnson came in 102nd, Jonah Dockery came in 139th and Luke Harbin came in 140th.
Hiwassee Dam boys came in third overall in team points with 156 points. They were the only full team from Cherokee County to qualify for the state championship.
O’Malley Salinas of Andrews came in 29th with a time of 17:53. Russell, Page and Salinas were the top three boys finishers from Cherokee County.
On the girls side, Fern Crayton of Tri-County Early College finished in 11th place with a time of 20:23. She was the only girl from Cherokee County to qualify for the state meet.
Swain County was the only other full boys team from the Smoky Mountain Conference to qualify for the state meet. At the meet, they finished in eighth place and scored 201 points.
Other conference runners with strong finishes on the boys side were Carl Baird of Swain County, who came in fourth place; Ogana Swimmer of Cherokee, who came in fifth place; and Xamuel Wachacha of Robbinsville, who came in 18th place.
On the girls side, Swain County won the state championship with 40 team points, 23 points ahead of second place. Arizona Blankenship and Annie Lewis of Swain came in first and second, respectively. Swain was the only full girls team from the SMC to qualify for the state meet.
Dvdaya Swimmer of Cherokee, which regularly dominated Smoky Mountain cross-country meets with multiple wins, came in fifth at the state meet.
With the cross-country season officially concluded, runners will shift their focus to winter sports like basketball and indoor track, or some will begin to prepare for the spring track season.