From staff reports
CHARLOTTE - Watauga's girls' cross country team qualified for the state 4-A meet Saturday by finishing second in the Western Regional run at McAlpine Park.
The Pioneers, who had four runners finish in the top 20, took second overall with a score of 77 points. T.C. Roberson cruised to a first-place finish with a team score of 35 points. Ardrey Kell was third and Lake Norman was fourth.
Kayla Schneider, one of two Watauga runners to finish in the top 10, led the Pioneers by finishing in sixth place with a time of 19 minutes, seven seconds. Darby Middlebrook, a freshman, was 10th overall with a time of 19:20.
Another freshman, Madison Harmon, finished in 17th place with a 19:47, while Hannah Barbour, who with Schneider ran in the state meet last year at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem, was 18th with a 19:50.
T.C. Roberson had two runners in the top three, including race-winner Laura Hoer, who had a time of 17:58. She was the only runner to finish in less than 18 minutes. Kaitlyn Kramer of Ardrey Kell was second and Roberson's Sarah Hope was third. Roberson had three runners in the top eight and five runners in the top 12.
"We made strides with T.C. Roberson," Pioneers coach Randy McDonough said.
"They've been putting four runners in front of our one all season long. Saturday, we just missed putting two in with their top four, so that got us a little closer."
Also going to the state meet is freshman Doria Kosmala, who was 27th with a time of 20:05. Amanda Carringer was 29th with a 20:15 and Hailey Middlebrook was 39th with a 20:41.
All will run in the state meet Saturday at Tanglewood Park. The girls' race begins at 3:30 p.m.
"The girls ran as well as they had to and hopefully they'll have a big day on Saturday," McDonough said.
Watauga's boys' team finished 10th overall and did not qualify for the state meet. Daniel Osborne was 24th overall with a time of 16:50. Osborne was four places shy of reaching the state meet as an individual.
 Osborne's teammate, Clark Brackney, was 45th with a time of 17:35. Andrew Vandenberg ran an 18:02 and Peter Vandenberg ran an 18:03.
Sam Littlejohn (18:19), Miguel Noriega (18:28) and Brian Brackney (18:51) also ran in the regional
Only one Northwestern 4-A/3-A Conference runner, Alexander Central's Alex Griggs, qualified for the state meet. Griggs finished 13th.
"Usually we're looking for somebody to go with our top four, but our top four did not have their best day," McDonough said. "Illness and injuries had a part in that. Our last three actually ran personal records and tried to do their part. It was just not the best day for them."