CARY - Panther Creek cross country coach Rusty Jenkins had started to add up the numbers, but put the piece of paper away before he could finish his calculation. He was too nervous to find out whether or not his team had edged Cary for the Tri-Nine Conference boys cross country championship.

So he waited till the announcement was made at the end of meet held at WakeMed Park.

No such anticipation surrounded the girls cross country championship, where Green Hope placed 11 runners in the top 15 to win its fourth straight girls conference title. The Lady Falcons had 20 points, far ahead of second-place Panther Creek's 79.

Jenkins' wait was rewarded with something that hadn't been said before: his Catamounts were the boys cross country champs -- and by just five points over the runner-up Imps.

Panther Creek's win also snapped a nine-year boys cross country championship reign by Green Hope.

"It was nerve-wracking," Jenkins said. "We told them 'Every place makes a difference, every point counts no matter who it is. Pass somebody.'"

And luckily for Panther Creek, sophomore John Foulkes heeded those words.

In the last 30 meters of the race, Foukes, who finished 22nd, passed five runners, including two from Cary. Had he stayed in 27th position, his Catamounts would've lost to Cary by a point.

With Foulkes as PC's fifth and final runner that counted towards the team score, Panther Creek won 56-61.

"He's only been on our varsity squad the past two meets," Jenkins said. "A month ago we didn't think he'd be in our top seven or even in our top 10. We had a few injuries to guys who were our fifth and sixth (runners)... (Foulkes) stepped up and never missed a beat."

A pair of juniors won the Tri-Nine individual titles.

Cary's Bakri Abushouk defended last year's conference championship with a time of 15:50 on the muddy course.

Green Hope's Maura McDonnell, who finished second in last year's conference meet, ran a 18:09 to pick up the first-place finish.

"My teammates push me a lot and I couldn't have done it without them," McDonnell said. "

McDonnell, who finished just ahead of Panther Creek's Rebkah Greengrass (third), teammates Erica Amatori (second) and Lauren Colberg (third), separated herself from the pack at about the second mile mark.

Abushouk was neck-and-neck with eventual runner-up Jacob Sears through the first half of the race, then got word from coach Jerry Dotson to put down the hammer.

"We needed to go out a little conservative in the first mile, mile and a half, and I said 'After that, it's your race,'" Dotson said.