State champs Friedman, Vaughan set the pace at NCSSM-Morganton

NCSSM-Morganton last month as school was letting out for the 2025-26 year handed out its third annual athlete of the year awards, with senior three-sport standout runners Max Vaughan and Stella Friedman taking home the honors.

Individually, Friedman was a conference and regional cross country champion who this spring was named girls most outstanding performer at the NCHSAA 1A outdoor track and field state championship meet after two first-place finishes and two second-place finishes, while Vaughan was a conference and regional champion in outdoor track and was a state champion this past winter in indoor track season.

Dragons cross country and track coach Chris Collins praised Friedman’s and Vaughan’s work ethic and noted how they both led the way in building strong bonds among members of their teams that led to such incredible results both on the track and on the course this school year.

“I really can’t say enough good things about Stella and Max and their leadership,” Collins said. “It’s like having two additional members of the coaching staff. … Not just the workouts, but long runs on the weekend, eating and spending time together. That really builds that social commitment where they were all in this together.”

After winning the XC individual titles in the early-season 2 Mile Invite/Hoka Postal Nationals hosted by Chase as well as at a host Pre-Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conference meet at Western Piedmont Community College, Friedman repeated as a conference individual champ in the sport, claiming the CRC championship meet in Mount Holly by over a minute.

Her effort lifted the Lady Dragons to a second straight conference team title in cross country as well.

Friedman (19:50.8) then won by nearly 48 seconds at the NCHSAA 1A West Regional championship meet on Oct. 25 at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, leading her Lady Dragons to their first-ever regional team title in the sport and the only one won by a county squad in the sport this fall.

Friedman, the CRC cross country girls runner of the year, ended her fall season by taking second place at the NCHSAA 1A state championship meet at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville on Oct. 31, leading her NCSSM-M girls team to the state title by a whopping 71-point margin.

During indoor track season, Friedman collected wins at three different distances — the 1000, 1600, and 3200 meters (twice) — and placed fourth at the 1A/2A state meet in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200.

Then in the outdoor regular season, Friedman won once apiece in the girls 800 and 3200 meters, also finishing second in both events and finishing second twice in the 1600.

Friedman hit her stride at the CRC championship meet on April 28 in Mount Holly, winning the 800 (2:29.05), 1600 (5:48.95), and 3200 meters (12:39.42).

She followed that performance with wins in both the 800 (2:32.46) and 1600 (5:36.49) at the 1A West Regional on May 8 at Montreat College and won both events again on May 14 at the 1A state championship meet at N.C. A&T University’s Marcus T. Johnson Track in Greensboro.

At state, Friedman blew away her seed times, finishing the 800 in 2:29.33 and the 1600 in 5:26.51. She also came away with silver medals both in the 3200 (12:24.65) and with the Lady Dragons’ 4x800-meter relay team (11:00.98) as the NCSSM-M girls nabbed a third-place finish, just one point out of second place and two points out of first place.

Friedman also was a member of the NCSSM-M swim team as a junior but focused on running exclusively as a senior.

Vaughan, meanwhile, participated in the same three sports (XC, indoor track, outdoor track) during the 2025-26 school year.

He placed a county-best sixth (17:04.10) at the Freedom Invitational in September as the Dragons placed third for the highest boys or girls team finish among county schools at the event.

Vaughan then was boys runner-up (19:30.42) at the CRC 1A/2A/3A cross country championship meet, earning all-conference accolades.

He went on to take fifth place 17:12.0) at regionals in cross country, helping the Dragons qualify for state as a team by virtue of their third-place finish. Vaughan then finished sixth individually (17:04.07) as the Dragons placed fourth at state as a team.

Vaughan ended the winter season with his highlight of the year, winning the boys 3200 meters (10:07.02) at the NCHSAA 1A/2A state championship meet at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem on Feb. 11.

In outdoor track, Vaughan won at both the 1600 and 3200 distances in regular-season meets before taking the title at the CRC championship meet in the 3200 (10:07.74).

He then won the 3200 and was second in the 1600 at the 1A West Regional and ended his prep career with finishes of fourth in the 3200 and seventh in the 1600 at state.