For the eighth consecutive season, the South Lenoir Blue Devils boys cross country team won the Eastern Carolina 2A conference championship. Photo by Jennifer Kopanski / Special to Neuse News.

DEEP RUN — After another impressive outing, it was all the same success for South Lenoir cross-country.

The Blue Devils boys’ cross-country team won the Eastern Carolina 2A conference championship meet held in Deep Run on Wednesday. Since the conference's inception in 2012, the boys have won the title in all eight seasons and for head coach Carlos Dodd, it’s yet another championship thanks to some great individual performances.

“It’s an excellent feeling,” he said about the achievements of his team. “Both the girls and boys teams have worked really hard for this moment. We enjoy what we do and the kids have given a lot of effort that paid off today.”

All of the effort certainly paid off for seniors Marina Castillo (21:43) and Ian Ireland (18:07). In their last home meet, the two Blue Devils swept the individual titles for the second straight year.

Blue Devils senior Ian Ireland won the boys individual conference title with a time of 18:07. Photo by Laieke Abebe / Neuse News.

“I didn’t get the time I wanted, but it still felt pretty good,” Ireland said about winning the meet. “It’s definitely sad to be ending my career, but all good things must come to an end. Thankfully, this meet ended on a good note for me and the team.”

South Lenoir’s girls team came in second place (49 points) behind Washington (21 points), but it was still a great feeling for Castillo to win another individual championship. For her and the rest of her team, the focus now shifts to the 2A East Regional meet.

“It’s a special moment,” she said about her last race in Deep Run. “I’m glad able to come in first place and I run as hard as a could. All we have to do is practice hard so we run to the best of our ability at Regionals.”

Blue Devils senior Marina Castillo won the girls individual conference title with a time of 21:43 while Anna Rouse of North Lenoir finished second (23:23). Photo by Laieke Abebe/Neuse News.

Kinston had a pair of runners just miss out on the Top 10 — Mekaylind Kilpatrick in the girls race (28:10) and Khadafiahn Turner for the boys (20:32). Despite not having many runners, head coach Crystal Bryant was extremely satisfied with their effort throughout the season.

“Khadafiahn has been one of my best runners,” she said. “He’s been in the Top 10 in just about every meet and we’re certainly going to miss him next year. Thankfully, I’ll have Mekaylind and Jasmir Summers back next season. I’m really impressed with how hard they’ve worked.”

Head coach Ashley Heath and the North Lenoir Hawks had three boys named to the all conference team: Will Price (2nd, 19:09), Westley Doyle (6th, 19:34) and Landon Gates (8th, 19:54). Although coach Heath only has two girls on her roster, Anna Rouse (2nd, 23:23) and Kimberly Vazquez (4th, 25:12) were able to place in the top five.

“We’ve had a great year,” Heath said. “Having everyone back from last year’s team really helped us. I’ve had a lot of runners improve their times over the last few months and I couldn’t be more proud of my teams effort.”

Kristen “Boo” Hardee (6th place, 26:05) and Elijah Dawson (9th, 20:05) were named all-conference for Ayden-Grifton. Greene Central’s top runners were Jasmine Aguilar (28:46) and Joe Henderson (21:16).

The 2A East Regional cross country meet will be held at Croatan High School in Newport next Saturday, November 2nd starting at 10 a.m.

“It was great to honor the seniors after the meet,” Dodd added. “Even though we compete against each other, our conference is like a family. Hopefully, both of my teams will do well next weekend, but we definitely want our conference as a whole to place well too.”

Eastern Carolina 2A Girls All-Conference

Marina Castillo, South Lenoir 21:43 (EC2A runner of the year)

Anna Rouse, North Lenoir 23:23

Stella Frisbie, Washington 24:12

Kimberly Vazquez, North Lenoir 25:12

Fatima Torres, Washington 25:24

Kristen “Boo” Hardee Ayden-Grifton 26:05

Chandler Woolard, Washington 26:23

Olivia Paszt, Washington 26:23.50

Madelyn Tucker, South Lenoir 26:28

Aspen Sommers, Washington 27:11

Eastern Carolina 2A Boys All-Conference