By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Burlington Christian Academy’s girls’ cross country team won its third consecutive state championship in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association.
This was the first title for the Royals at the Class 3-A level.
Individual champion Blakely Bork of BCA won in 17 minutes, 52.3 seconds Friday at McAlpine Park in Charlotte.
BCA was a narrow team champion with 46 points, edging Forsyth Country Day School’s 47. Calvary Day School was third at 124 in the 15-team field.
Bork, a junior, won by more than 19 seconds on runner-up Hope Julian of Forsyth Country Day School.
BCA’s Ellianna Bork (19:20) was ninth, Adalynn House (19:27) placed 11th, Milania Bork (19:29) finished 12th, Carly Gresham (19:30) ended 13th and Addie Jeffries (20:14) was 15th. Hazel Kleiman (21:47) rounded out the Royals in 28th among 124 runners. The first five runners on each team counted in the team totals.
In the boys’ race, Elisha Morton of BCA ran to fifth place in a school-record 16:53. That helped the Royals to fifth place in the team standings.
Other BCA runners were Mason Dalton (17:45), Eli Hammock (17:56), Cayleb Hailey (18:10), Rush Hodgin (19:09), Jackson Ingle (19:45), and Connor Pherson (19:54).
