Washington, Northside and Southside all competed in their respective eastern regional cross-country meets over the weekend. The Seahawks and Panthers traveled to Manteo, while the Pam Pack had the luxury of hosting its meet in Washington.

Each program enjoyed some success in the meets, and will be represented in their respective state-championship meets. Northside will send two boys, Brock Marsh and Holden Newman, while Southside and Washington each have one representative.

Newman placed third in the 1-A eastern regional. He was just over a minute back from first-place runner Dominic Brooks (Camden County). The Panthers had another top-10 finisher in Marsh, who finished in 19:11.81 — less than a second back from the ninth-place finisher.

As a team, the Panthers placed fifth. In addition to Marsh and Newman, they also had Austin Newman, Henry Nimmons and Chandler Nimmons racing. The girls finished eighth. Ashley Cullom (32nd) and Sarabeth Boyd (34th) were the top competitors for the Lady Panthers.

“I was ecstatic with the girls,” Northside coach Bob Girani said. “I had a talk with them, they responded to the talk, and they shattered their personal bests. … They had me on a high all the way home. My feet didn’t touch the ground.”

Reigning 2-A Eastern Plains Conference champion Kennedy Landen will be Washington’s lone representative in the state championship. She finished 13th to punch her ticket. The Lady Pack finished seventh as a team.

“I saw a lot of determined girls on Saturday,” Landen said. “That definitely prepared me because I wasn’t expecting it to be such close competition. Everyone was neck-and-neck. … I’m expecting there to be a lot more competition at the state meet. Last year, I remember everyone was really dedicated and it was hard.”

Pam Pack coach Toby McMahon added, “Our girls ran well. I think everyone PRed (personal record). It was just that a couple of schools ran better than us.”

The boys finished 13th of 16 teams competing. Trippe Bonner (53rd) was the Pam Pack’s top finisher.

Southside will be represented by Tyrese Johnson, who finished 19th at the regional meet. The boys, as a group, had a modest 11th-place showing. It’s quite an accomplishment for the first-year Seahawks team.

The state championships will take place on Saturday in Kernersville. Northside and Southside will race at 10:30 a.m. in the 1-A boys classification. Landen will main event the afternoon in the 4:30 p.m. timeslot with the 2-A girls.