The Cary girls and the Green Hope boys won 3,200-meter relays, Panther Creek’s Cassie Crawford captured the pole vault (11-00) and Apex senior Kevin Fogg out-leaped the competition in the triple jump (46-04.75). Kourtney Pearce of Fuquay-Varina dominated the discus throw (115-07).

Many other area athletes will join these first-place finishers in this coming Saturday’s 4-A state championship meet which will be held at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.

Both the Cary boys’ and girls’ teams placed high, including a fifth place finish for the boys (51 points) and a sixth for the girls (46). The Imp boys were actually leading the meet after 11 events, but the nationally-ranked New Bern Bears (84) surged ahead for the win. Durham Jordan (88) easily captured the girls regional crown.

Erin Foshee, Deanna Foshee, Jenna Christensen and Sheridan Jordan once again led the charge in the girls 3,200 meter relay, finishing in 9:35.24, just three seconds short of their personal best (9:32.58) set two weeks ago at the Wake County Relays.

“They’ve come to run, many are running their best times of the year and they’re competing, which I like more than anything,” said Cary head coach Jerry Dotson, who will have seventeen athletes involved in the state championships this weekend. “The 3,200 hasn’t even hit their best time yet, but I think it may be coming.

“Last year as freshmen the girls finished second in the state behind West Johnston. We’re excited to be able to compete against them again next week.”

The Green Hope boys 3,200 relay also dominated, finishing in 7:52.04, besting their personal best time by six seconds.

The Falcons, led by Zak Roshdy, Scott Hefner, Doug Black and Patrick Moakley, are excited to be heading to the state meet again.

“We peaked very well at the end of the year, and we’re ready to go to state’s and give it our best,” Hefner said.

In an interesting twist, the Cary boys 3,200 (7:56.67) finished third behind Green Hope, while the Falcon girls 3,200 (9:49.16) finished third behind the Imps. Assir Abushouk, Kwavon Taylor-Greene, Derrick Hudson and Bryan Wilson of Cary bested their previous time of 8:15 by almost 20 seconds.

Deanna and Erin Foshee both took tops in the 800 meter, finishing within one second of each other at 2:19.59 and 2:20.35 respectively. Cary’s Mohammed Abushouk posted a 9:26.41 in the 3,200 meter, while teammate Chris Barfield notched a personal best in the discus (144 feet-07 inches) and Imps Eloheim Palma (49-00.50) and Fre’Shad Hunter (49-00.00) qualified for the state meet in the shot put.

Crawford, a Catamount junior, will be making her second consecutive trip to the state meet, while teammate Emily Whitfield (45.02 in 300 hurdles) will be joining her this year in Greensboro.

“Last year I finished seventh but had my personal best vault,” Crawford said. “I’m excited.”

Apex placed well in several relays, including the boys 400 (42.95) and 800 (1:29.58) and the girls 1,600 (4:05.27). Luke Deal had a pole vault of 13-feet even. Other Cougar top fours included Gayle Foote in the 800 (2:20.71), Kersie Jhabvala in the 3,200 (11:31.49) and Mary Theresa Montgomery in the high jump (5-02).

Other top four boys finishes included Athens Drive’s Phillip Barren in the 100 dash (10.84) and long jump (21-05.75), Green Hope’s Moakley (1:56.23) and Roshdy (1:57.13) in the 800, Hefner (4:26.93) in the 1,600, Bryan Spreitzer in the 3,200 (9:37.49) and Fuquay-Varina’s Shaun Underwood in the discus (142-09) and the shot put (48-07.50).

Roshdy also ran strong in the 1,600 (4:22.91) and Cary pole vaulter James Wilson qualified (13-even). Olivia Enright (Green Hope) ran the 3,200 in 11:38, while Torrey Bussey (Cary) placed in the shot put (9-06).

Middle Creek high jumper Jessica Van Hulst (5-04) was narrowly edged for first place by a Northern Durham athlete, but will be among the athletes still in contention to capture a state title on Saturday.