RALEIGH — Through three conference meets Panther Creek's Jaleesa Wilson had won two all-around championships and Green Hope's Cathy Cortell had won the other. So it was clearly a two-horse race heading into Friday's Tri-Eight championship meet at the Artistic Gymnastics School Gym in Raleigh.

And what a close race it turned out to be.

Wilson won two of the four events and scored a combined 39.2 to edge out Cortell by a mere two-tenths of a point. Wilson was also named Tri-Eight gymnast of the year.

"This was probably the best I've ever done in a high school meet," Wilson said. "I'm proud of the way I competed. I tried really hard to stick all my landings and that was the difference."

It was the second conference championship for Wilson, who won the title as a sophomore. Last season she was unable to compete because of a ruptured Achilles tendon.

"It feels really good to come back and win again as a senior," Wilson said.

For Cortell, her only individual win came on the bars where she posted a 9.9 — five-one hundreths better than Wilson. But her undoing came on the balance beam where she finished tied for fourth — 1.5 points behind the eventual champ.

Still, the Falcon junior was pleased with her performance.

"I did better in this meet than I had done in the rest," Cortell said. "The judges judged harder, but that was expected. It was close and I'm happy we did good as a team.

"Outside of these high school meets Jaleesa has been doing this longer than I have and she's better than me. I'm just glad that I'm considered almost as good as she is."

In the team competition Lee County claimed the championship, besting the Catamounts by more than two points. Apex finished third, led by Caroline Trezona, who tied for fourth in the all-around and placed in the top six in three of the four events.

Green Hope came home in fourth followed by Athens Drive and Cary.

Next up is the state championships Saturday at the Raleigh School of Gymnastics. Cortell and Wilson should be in the mix for the title there as well.

"I expect pretty much the same at the state meet as what we did here," Cortell said.

As for Wilson, who was the state runner-up two years ago and has already accepted a full scholarship to the University of Denver, she made her intentions clear.

When asked how she expected to finish on Saturday, she simply replied, "I expect to win."