CHARLOTTE — Watauga’s Darby Middlebrook finished second in the Wendy’s Invitational held at McAlpine Park Saturday.

Middlebrook’s time of 17:54 made her just one of two runners to finish under 18 minutes in the girls invitational division. Race winner Laura Miller from J.L. Mann (S.C.) won the event with a time of 17:47.

Middlebrook also helped the Pioneers’ team finish sixth overall with 245 points. The top four teams were from North Carolina, led by Carrboro with 104 points.

T.C. Roberson finished second (162 points) followed by Ardrey Kell (177) and Chapel Hill (227). Flowery Branch (Ga.) was fifth with 242 points.

Kathleen Mansure finished 27th for the Pioneers with a time of 19:25. Lynde Wangler was third for Watauga and 47th overall with a time of 19:57.

Celia Jackson was Watauga’s fourth finisher with a time of 20:25. Shelby Hickernell was Watauga’s fifth runner. She finished 93rd overall with a time of 20:48.

Carrboro had four runners finished in the top 20, and the fifth finished 40th overall.

Watauga’s boys finished fifth overall after Josh Anderson finished 10th overall.

Anderson finished with a time of 15:54. Bakri Abushouk of Cary won the race with a time of 15:05.

Watauga finished with 239 points. The Pioneers had four runners in the top 52 positions.

Chapel Hill won with 74 points after placing all five of its point scorers in the top 24. Cary (104) was second, followed by Flowery Branch (174), and Apex (234).

Bryan Brackney finished 42nd overall, but 41st in points after crossing the finish line with a time of 16:42. Michael Holland was 44th overall, 43rd in points with a time of 16:43.

Peter Vandenberg was 53rd overall, 52nd in scoring with a time of 16:46. Drew Boyette was 94th overall, 93rd in scoring with a time of 17:11.

Sidney Wiswell finished 23rd in for the Pioneers in the girls’ Junior/Senior race with a time of 22:43. Taylor McKinney was 48th with a time of 23:42 and Julianna Bond was 53rd with a 23:54.

In the boys’ race, Luke Johnson finished eighth overall with a 17:41. Jacob Soule was 24th with an 18:10 and Carson Nguyan was 25th with an 18:11.

Zack Styron finished 24th in the boys’ Freshmen and Sophomore race with a time of 18:01. Neel Tabor was 38th with an 18:26. Jesse Wangler was 47th in the girls’ race with a time of 22:58, while Carson Middlebrook was 50th with a 23:00.