Topsail’s Grayson Dill wins second straight cross country state title

Topsail senior Grayson Dill entered Saturday’s NCHSAA 7A Cross Country State Championship meet with a target on his back.

The other 144 runners in the field were looking to dethrone the defending champ, but Dill found another gear and again crossed the finish line first with a time of 15:17.11 at Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. 

Dill became just the 24th male in state history to win back-to-back titles. 

All eight classifications ran the same course either Friday or Saturday. Dill had the fastest time of anyone.

“Grayson has had his sights set on this race since he won it last year,” Topsail coach Miranda Roszczewski said. “He’s thought about it every single day. He’s spent countless hours knowing who he was going up against and strategizing. No one wanted it more than Grayson did, and no one worked harder.”

Dill improved his times on the state championship course each of his final three years. He was 15th as a sophomore (15:51.23) and had a winning time of 15:32.15 last fall. 

The Pirates were 10th out of 18 teams with a score of 281. The other counting times came from Grant Stortz (64th in 16:55.65), Chase Crucitti (79th in 17:08.27), Orin Gray (88th in 17:19.30), and Brennan Johnson (104th in 17:42.37).

James Elliott of Cardinal Gibbons was the runner-up in 15:29.82. The Crusaders had five of the top 16 finishers to cruise to the team title.

In his final high school race, New Hanover senior Michael Enriquez placed seventh in 15:38.31. After failing to qualify as a freshman and sophomore, Enriquez was 10th a season ago. 

The Wildcats were 13th with 333 points. Bryan Blair (55th in 16:48.17) and Miles Fitzgerald (86th in 17:17.09) had strong performances. 

Ashley placed 18th with 431 points. Leading the way were Colten Wescoe (67th in 16:58.80) and Porter Cramer (73rd in 17:07.24). 

In the 8A classification, Hoggard finished fifth with 154 points. 

Sophomore Ethan Cox had a time of 16:28.01 to place 21st out of 98 runners. The other counting times came from Ralph Pfeil (35th in 16:43.33), Thomas Futch (36th in 16:44.29), Abram Baker (44th in 16:56.34), and Gabe Nalepa (49th in 17:00.16).