Patton girls, Freedom boys win Burke County XC titles

The Patton girls cross country team won its fourth meet of the season at Tuesday’s Burke County championships hosted by Western Piedmont Community College, while the Freedom boys slipped past East Burke for their first team triumph of 2025.

The Lady Panthers (15 points) sported five of the top six runners, led by the girls county champion, senior Layla McGuire (21:37.82), who beat sophomore teammate Elisabeth Sawdy to the finish line by 15 hundredths of a second. PHS’ Nora Wykle, Julia Niehoff, and Anna Aiken placed fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.

The runner-up East Burke girls (48) were led by Lacie Forino (eighth) and Aubrey Sanders (10th), and third-place Freedom (58) was paced by Ashlyn Davis (seventh).

Draughn did not post a girls team score but was led individually by Adelei Morrow (third) and Saylor Watson (ninth).

On the boys side, Freedom (27) was led by sophomore Frank Harrelson’s second-place finish, while teammates Nick Chiota (fourth), Brooks Snipes (fifth), Jeffery Gomez-Andres (sixth), and Ian Austin (10th) rounded out the team scoring with top-10 showings.

East Burke senior Elijah Baker (17:24.13) cruised to the boys individual county title by more than 2 minutes, and the runner-up Cavaliers (36) also picked up top-10 performances via Eduardo Valencia Soria (seventh), Kade Tolbert (eighth), and Connor Kerley (ninth).

Third-place Draughn (64) was led by Noah Thomas’ third-place effort, and Patton did not field enough boys runners for a team total but was led by Beckham Welch in 11th place.

Three days earlier, on Saturday, Sept. 20, Freedom Park was the site of the 18-team Freedom Invitational meet.

Sawdy (19:29.50) also took the girls runner-up spot at that meet, her fifth finish of first or second place already this fall, leading Patton to a county-best fourth-place team finish. McGuire placed 12th at that meet.

The NCSSM-Morganton girls placed just behind Patton in fifth, led by senior Stella Friedman’s fifth-place run and teammate Amelia Fleury in 10th place. East Burke and Freedom were also competing, led respectively by Lacie Forino (45th) and Aida Ruechel (62nd), while FHS freshman Leighton Beck won the girls open race.

The Dragons boys placed a county-best third at the Freedom Invitational, led by the trio of senior Max Vaughan (sixth; 17:04.10), Will Evans (12th), and Brayden Tody (15th). NCSSM-M’s John Owen finished fourth in the boys open race.

Baker paced EB, finishing eighth place individually, while Harrelson (33rd) and Welch (92nd) led the way for the Freedom and Patton boys, respectively.

NCSSM-M was back in action Wednesday at WPCC, dominating both the boys and girls portions of a five-team Pre-Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conference meet.

Evans (19:06.38) won the boys race, leading the Dragons to a top-five sweep as he was followed, in order, by teammates Aiden Marshall, Henry Omstede, Alex Hruby, and Josh Gandy.

And Friedman (20:19.52) claimed the girls individual title as NCSSM-M took seven of the top eight times. Fleury finished second, Alexandra Hexemer was third, Nicole Taylor was fourth, and Gracie Toplitz completed the team scoring in sixth place, closely followed by teammates Lilah Johnson in seventh and Lia Gracia in eighth.

VOLLEYBALL

Patton tops Draughn; Teams tied for 1st

The Lady Panthers (11-3, 8-1) avenged a road loss to Draughn (11-5, 8-1) in five sets on Tuesday in Morganton, winning by set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, and 16-14 and getting the match-sealing point via a Chesney Hensley ace as they forced a first-place tie in the Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference standings with the Lady Wildcats entering the stretch run of the regular season.

Patton was led by a monster effort from Soraya Hartman (22 digs, 19 kills, 15 assists, six aces, three blocks), while Hannah Huggins added 21 kills and three blocks, Emma Griffin posted 20 assists with 13 digs, and Carly Setterlind tallied 13 digs and five assists. Hayden Hein and Kynzlee Worley tied Hartman and Huggins for team-high honors with three blocks apiece.

“(Tuesday’s) win was truly electric — beating your cross-county and conference rivals, the energy, being on home turf with our crowd,” said Patton coach Hayden Huffman. “Myself and my assistant coach spent a lot of time over the weekend watching film and studying (Draughn), and planning a practice to simulate things they excel on that we would need to pick up on and play off of.

“The girls wanted it, and we wanted it too. They watched film before practice on Monday and came in with a mindset of what they needed to work on. They knew it would be a battle. We needed every single girl on our team for that win. They played amazing against a very competitive team. My girls are leaders on and off the court, and I think last night (Tuesday) showed that.”

Draughn countered in defeat with solid production from Ella Anthony (12 kills), Macy Auton (25 digs, two aces), Lillian Collins (two aces), Ashlyn Heavner and Shelby Proffitt (17 assists apiece), and Kylie Corpening (four blocks). Three other DHS players added nine kills apiece.

Prior to that key win, Patton defeated visiting East Burke (6-12, 3-6 WPC) on Sept. 18 in straight sets, 25-12, 25-16, and 25-17. Huggins had 12 kills and five blocks, Hartman (14 assists, eight digs, seven kills) and Jolann Buff served three aces each, Setterlind had 14 digs, and Griffin added a team-high 15 assists plus four kills, three digs, three blocks, and two aces.

EB was led on the stat sheet by Ava Bivens and Karlie Chester (four kills each), Amanda McLean (three blocks), Hermione Garro (11 digs), and Carissa Towery (nine assists).

Draughn won its previous match that same day, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17, at home against R-S Central, led by Bailey Mozeley’s 13 kills, nine digs, and five aces, Proffitt’s 19 assists, seven digs, and three aces, and Heavner’s 12 assists. Ava Aldridge paced Draughn with two blocks, and Corpening (eight), Collins (seven), and Bella Whitson (seven) combined for another 22 kills between them.

EB topped visiting McDowell, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-23, in nonconference action Monday before dropping a five-setter at Hibriten on Tuesday (25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 20-25, 11-15).

In the win, the Lady Cavaliers were led by Towery (23 assists), Sarah Angel (14 digs), McLean (10 blocks), Chester (eight kills), and Garro (seven aces).

In Tuesday’s setback, the Lady Cavs were led statistically by Towery (16 assists), Garro (11 digs), Bivens and Belle Gwyn (eight kills each), McLean (seven blocks), and Chester (six aces).

NCSSM-Morganton (7-6 CRC) pulled back above .500 in league matches after 3-0 wins over both visiting Carolina International on Sept. 18 (25-16, 25-11, 25-17) and at Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy on Tuesday (25-1, 25-1, 25-17).

The Lady Dragons’ Emma Johnson and Anshita Bhunia served 12 aces apiece on Tuesday, and Kennedy Miller joined that duo with a tremendous effort at the service stripe, while last week’s win was paced by the play of Johnson, Bhunia, and Lola Wilson.

And Freedom (3-12, 0-5 Northwestern 3A/4A Conf.) fell both at home on Sept. 18 against Alexander Central (21-25, 7-25, 8-25) and against McDowell on Tuesday (25-21, 13-25, 17-25, 19-25).

In last week’s loss, the Lady Patriots were led by Camryn Warlick (12 assists), Kaitlyn Hagmann (10 digs), and Mia Furches (seven kills), while Hagmann supplied a team-high 17 kills in defeat on Tuesday.

GIRLS TENNIS

NCSSM-Morganton seals 3-peat share

The Lady Dragons (6-0, 5-0 CRC) clinched no worse than a share of a third consecutive conference regular-season championship thanks to Tuesday’s 9-0 road win at Mountain Island Charter.

NCSSM-M got singles wins via No. 1 Shriya Reddy (6-0, 6-0), No. 2 Gina Byon (6-1, 6-0), No. 3 Kirsten Boyd (6-0, 6-1), No. 4 Shrika Chatta (6-0, 6-0), No. 5 Anjana Ramanujam (6-0, 6-1), and No. 6 Shreshta Vemula (6-0, 6-0) before No. 1 Byon/Boyd (8-1), No. 2 Chatta/Ramanujam (8-1), and No. 3 Vemula/Leah Gibson (8-2) also cruised in doubles matches.

The Lady Dragons late Thursday had a chance to claim the CRC title outright as they hosted second-place Thomas Jefferson.

Draughn (8-3, 8-2 WPC) was the only other county squad to nab a win recently as the Lady Wildcats defeated visiting East Rutherford by a 5-4 score on Monday before falling at home against first-place Hibriten 6-3 on Wednesday.

In Monday’s victory, Draughn’s singles wins came via No. 2 Maria Medrano (8-3), No. 4 Addelynn Honeycutt (8-6), No. 5 Maddy Hudson (8-4), and No. 6 Peyton Dale (8-4) before the No. 1 doubles squad of Aubrey Childers/Mati Kincaid won 8-5 to seal the team triumph.

Medrano and Hudson then combined for all three of DHS’ wins on Wednesday as they won in singles, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-1, respectively, before teaming up for an 8-1 doubles win.

Freedom (0-7 NWC) remained winless after a 5-4 home loss to McDowell on Sept. 18, a 7-2 road loss to McDowell on Monday, and a pair of 9-0 losses at Watauga in a Tuesday doubleheader.

In the first loss to the Titans, No. 1 Zofia Losada (8-6) and No. 4 Haylee Leemkuil (8-7) won in singles, and No. 1 Losada/Nancy Acosta Cortes (6-4) and No. 2 Jasmine Martinez Ramirez/Sierra Lowery (6-0) won in doubles.

Losada won 8-2 at No. 1 singles to start this week, and No. 5 singles player Maddie Bennett (8-6) managed FHS’ other win.

BOYS SOCCER

Patton improves to 5-0 in conference

The Panthers (9-1-2, 5-0 WPC) stayed tied atop the league with Hibriten ahead of next week’s showdown as they handed visiting West Caldwell its first league loss on Monday, 6-2, and survived an early scare in Wednesday’s 5-3 road win over East Rutherford.

Samuel Quinonez and Andres Garcia (assist) scored two goals apiece in Monday’s triumph, with Raul Macias Trejo and Abraham Miguel scoring a goal each, Trevin Lavoie supplying two assists, and Mylton Lopez adding one assist. PHS goalkeeper Colsyn Queen recorded six saves in the win.

Patton then trailed 2-0 in Forest City before tying the game by halftime and pulling away in the second half. Garcia (assist), Miguel, Lavoie, Gabino Vasquez, and Noah Krogel scored a goal apiece, and Quinonez and Tony Vicente added an assist each. Queen notched two saves as Patton outshot the hosts by a 26-9 margin.

“To not play our best and still manage to take the game is a testament to our team,” Patton coach Keith Scott said. “East played an inspired game and outworked us most of the night.”

NCSSM-Morganton (5-4-1, 4-4 CRC) was the only other county squad to earn a win over the last week, topping Sugar Creek Charter 8-0 at home Monday after a 2-1 home loss to Mountain Island Charter on Sept. 18.

Ford Butner scored the Dragons’ lone goal last Thursday and netted four goals plus an assist in Monday’s victory, which also saw NCSSM-M get major offensive production from August Cook (two goals), Bertan Karamavruc (two goals), and Gavin Tarrant (two assists).

Freedom (3-7-1, 0-1 NWC), Draughn (0-8-1, 0-5 WPC), and East Burke (0-10, 0-5 WPC) each lost twice recently.

The Patriots fell 4-0 at home against nonconference Enka on Monday before opening league play with a 6-2 home loss to Watauga on Wednesday.

The Wildcats lost 6-0 against Hibriten at home Monday and 10-1 at West Caldwell on Wednesday, getting their lone goal via Talen Denton on an assist from Christian Ugalde.

And the Cavaliers also remained winless with a 5-1 home loss to R-S Central on Monday and a 4-0 home loss to Chase on Wednesday.

GIRLS GOLF

All three leagues in early-week action

NCSSM-Morganton placed second as a team on Wednesday, notching both the best finish and lowest score (145) among Burke County squads last week as all five local teams played in-county conference matches.

The Lady Dragons hosted the CRC match at Silver Creek Golf Club, as they finished behind only Thomas Jefferson but fell six strokes back in the team standings this fall in the process.

NCSSM-M senior Claire Gamache carded a career-best 41 to take second place individually and was aided in the team finish by teammates Priana Patel (49; fourth) and Mady Schoenfish (55).

The day before, Silver Creek hosted four WPC teams as Draughn (172) was third and East Burke (176) fourth. The Lady Wildcats were led by Kennedy Stroupe (55), Ruby Adams (56), and Callie Hale (61), and the Lady Cavs were led by Reagan Austin (56), Sophia Vaughn (59), and Sara Evans (61). Patton did not participate in the match.

And Freedom (172) was in action Monday at Mimosa Hills Golf Club in a host NWC match, placing sixth as Kathryn Bridges shot 53, Paycen Coleman added a 58, and Isabella Guillen finished at 61.