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The West Stanly cross-country teams headed into the 2A Midwest Regionals in strong fashion.

Having previously swept the men’s and women’s Rocky River Conference titles, the Colts looked to place well enough at regionals to move on to the state meet.

Both teams claimed regional championships and punched their tickets to the state finals at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

Men’s Results

West’s men’s squad finished in first by a wide margin with 33 points, with Wilkes Central a distant second with 105 points and Providence Grove with 107.

James Shue continued his successful senior season with a first-place finish at regionals. Previously this season, the senior ran the school’s first sub 17-minute race in 13 years, along with winning the RRC individual title. Shue won the 2A Midwest Regional race by nearly 10 seconds, finishing in 17:04.56. Ignacio Morales of Surry Central was second in 17:14.16.

Three of his West teammates finished together in the top 10. Senior Cooper Motsinger was fourth in 18:12.11 followed by senior Camden Misenheimer (fifth-18:18.07) and junior Nathan Marks (sixth-18:21.81). Elijah Morton rounded out the top five for West finishing 13th in 18:47.43.

Women’s Results

The Colts took first at the 2A Midwest with an overall low team score of 47, followed by Surry Central (69) and Wilkes Central (82).

Natalie Almond, a senior who also won the RRC individual crown, took the 2A Midwest individual title in a time of 20:21.66, 37.43 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Sutton Webb of Salisbury.

The Colts had two runners to finish in the top 10 at regionals: Almond and Makayln Morton. A junior, Morton placed seventh with a 21:51.01 finish. Freshman McKenzie Clontz was third for West finishing 12th overall wit ha 22:15.42, followed by fellow freshman Carolyn White (14th-23:00.43) and sophomore Holly Hatch (17th-23:09.31).

State Results

The women finished fifth and the men seventh in the state competition over the weekend.
Natalie Almond finished with All-State honors by placing eighth overall in 20:06.61.

James Shue finished ninth at the 2A state finals (All-State) with a time of 17:05.34.