Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Pungo Christian Academy posted its best finish ever in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A Wells Fargo Cup standings for the school year just completed.

The Raiders finished third behind Grace Christian of Sanford and Wilson Greenfield after a sixth place finish last year.

Schools earn points based on finishing in the top eight in each sport covering the fall, winter and spring seasons.

The Lady Raiders volleyball team won the state championship in the fall, while the softball team finished state runners-up and the girls basketball team made the Final Four.

The boys cross country and golf teams posted top four finishes, while the baseball, boys soccer and first-year girls soccer programs also scored points.

“Adding girls soccer helped us and our boys team had a solid season in its fourth year,’ Athletic Director Logan Van Staalduinen said. ” It’s a credit to our coaches for working hard to develop our athletes and it’s a credit to our athletes for taking that coaching and be successful.

The Raiders were sixth in the 2020-21 standings and Van Staalduinen plans for the upward trend to continue.

“Winning a Wells Fargo Cup was one of my goals when I got here three years ago,” he said. “Adding sports gives us more chances and helps attract more kids to our school. The two schools ahead of us this year are moving up to 2A, so that will help also. We are adding boys tennis next year and looking at adding lacrosse. We also try to play the hardest non-conference schedule we can to improve our playoff seeding. A number of factors have contributed to our recent success, but having dedicated coaches, athletes and parents is the most important thing.”