NCSSM-Morganton’s Xu wins top CRC soccer award

Most of the remaining 2026 Burke County high school spring sports all-conference teams were announced over the past week, with 19 additional county athletes being honored across four sports.

Highlighting the latest lists was NCSSM-Morganton senior forward Hannah Xu, who was named the Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conference girls soccer player of the year.

Xu finished the season with team-high totals of 20 goals and 10 assists, notching a pair of hat tricks including one four-goal game, and adding four games with multiple assists for the third-place Dragons, who won at least one NCHSAA state playoff game for a third straight season.

It also marks the second straight season in which NCSSM-M girls soccer won at least one conference individual award after claiming three a season ago in the Western Highlands 1A/2A.

Xu was joined on the All-CRC squad by senior teammates Kendyl Moreland and Nicole Taylor as well as by junior Elyse Rea.

In boys golf, NCSSM-M’s Davis McColley (the county individual champion) and Lance Morgan both earned their way onto the All-CRC team.

The Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference announced its girls soccer all-conference squad, which included Patton’s Jaxyn Nolen (the county’s leading goal scorer), Becca Velasquez, Ana Sic, and Brenda Lopez-Ortiz as well as East Burke’s Genessis Lopez, Kira Pyatte, and Alex Rios-Cisneros, and Draughn’s Bailey Mozeley.

And the Northwestern 6A/7A Conference announced the rest of its spring all-conference lists, with Freedom’s selections including Jessenia Chavez and Yoselin Rodriguez in girls soccer, Micah Phasiname in track and field, Ezra Scott in boys tennis, and Greyson Snipes in boys golf.

NOTE: Among Burke County high schools’ three conferences, only the All-CRC track and tennis teams as well as Patton’s boys and girls all-conference lacrosse selections have yet to be announced. They will be announced as that information becomes available.

Buchanan promoted by L-R women

East Burke alum Makenzie (Crump) Buchanan has been promoted to full-time assistant coach with the Lenoir-Rhyne University women’s basketball team, L-R announced on May 30.

Buchanan was a volunteer assistant coach in 2025-26 — one year after serving as Table Rock Middle School’s girls hoops head coach — as the Bears enjoyed a spectacular season under first-year head coach Emry Tsitouris.

This past winter with a roster made up entirely of underclassmen, the Bears finished 26-6 overall, winning the South Atlantic Conference regular-season title with a program-record 20 SAC wins while also reaching the program’s first-ever NCAA Division II Regional championship game.

L-R also rattled off a program-record 19-game win streak and set new school records for total points, 3-pointers made, and blocked shots as Tsitouris was named SAC coach of the year.

Buchanan played on two league title squads at EB, including one that reached the NCHSAA 2A West Regional final, before playing collegiately at Wingate University. Her younger brother, Brayden Crump, currently plays for NCAA Division I program East Tennessee State University.

Jillings, Cozort part of state titles

The NCHSAA baseball and softball state title series wrapped up over the weekend, and girls soccer championship games were also held to conclude the 2025-26 athletic calendar.

Most notably, one Valdese native led the Hickory girls soccer team to the 5A state championship, while another Valdese native was a member of the coaching staff for the back-to-back state champion South Caldwell softball team.

Hickory (23-1-1) topped East Regional champion Dixon by a 2-0 margin at Durham County Memorial Stadium on May 29 behind two second-half goals, including one in the 75th minute from junior forward Piper Jillings, a University of South Florida recruit who lives in Valdese.

Jillings was named game MVP after scoring her 43rd goal of the spring to go with her 32 assists.

Meanwhile, the Lady Spartans (27-4) claimed the first and third games over Union Pines at Duke University on May 29-30, led by MVP McCartney Harrington, to win the 6A crown one year after being 4A champions (prior to reclassification). Ex-longtime East Burke and Draughn baseball and softball coach Chris Cozort was a first-year assistant coach on the South Caldwell team.

Other local state champs included the North Lincoln baseball squad (5A) and West Wilkes softball squad (3A), who had eliminated Draughn in two games in the West Regional finals the week before.

The Hibriten girls soccer team (4A) as well as the South Caldwell (6A), Burns (4A), East Rutherford (3A), and Cherryville (2A) baseball teams all finished as state runners up.