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On Tuesday, Northside held a walk-through celebration that included Andrew Harding and the members of the Northside boys and girls cross country teams. (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)

Northside's Andrew Harding (tallest, second from right). Northside High School photo

On Tuesday, Northside held a walk-through celebration that included Andrew Harding and the members of the Northside boys and girls cross country teams. (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)

On Tuesday, Northside held a walk-through celebration that included Andrew Harding and the members of the Northside boys and girls cross country teams. (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)

On Tuesday, Northside held a walk-through celebration that included Andrew Harding and the members of the Northside boys and girls cross country teams. (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)

Northside's boys placed ninth in the state at the Class 1-A state finals. (Northside High School photo)

Northside's girls placed 15th in the state at the Class 1-A state finals. (Northside High School photo)

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Andrew Harding is not only the fastest runner in the state in Class 1-A cross country, but he’s also a record breaker.

The Northside senior capped a brilliant high school career by winning the state title and breaking the record for the fastest time on Saturday at the NC High School Athletic Association state championships at Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.

Harding won the individual title in 15:28.84. That broke the previous record by eight seconds held by Blake Nicholson of Christ the King last year. Nicholson placed third in Saturday’s race.

“Yeah, it felt great to finally see the hard work pay off,” Harding said. “The second place (last year) is good and all, but it’s nothing compared to first place. Just finally getting across that hole and winning is, yeah, it’s great.”

Hiwassee Dam’s Ethan Russell finished second with a time of 16:03.91. Swain County’s Carl Baird and Cherokee’s Ogana Swimmer rounded out the top five.

Harding’s time was the third fastest among the winners in the four classifications that had runners compete on Saturday. Michael Haskin, a senior from Asheville, took the top individual spot in Class 4-A in 15:21.71 on the same course. Western Harnett junior Ethan Rich took home the individual honors in 3-A with a time of 15:26.18.

“Well it has been a heck of a season,” Northside coach Casey Schulte said in a post on the Northside cross country Facebook page. “These kids have worked so hard. They have battled and they continue to push. I am so proud of them for how hard they have worked.

“Andrew Harding finished 1st overall and is the 1A State Champion. Yall, that’s hundreds and hundreds of runners.”

Harding said he pulled away from the pack pretty quick and made the run easy for him. He’s looking forward to taking that accomplishment and using it as motivation for other races in the near future, including a national event in Charlotte at the end of November.

“My plan was to just take it out really hard,” Harding said about last Saturday’s run. “And if anyone wanted to go with me, then they could. Blake was the only person who went with me, and he fell off pretty early. So I pulled away about a mile and just kept making distance from them.”

Northside’s boys placed ninth in the state and second behind Lejeune among teams from the eastern part of the state. Northside’s girls were 15th, just behind Lejeune (7th) and Pamlico County (14th) among teams in the eastern of the state. Both qualified for the state tournament after finishing second at the East Regional last Saturday at Northside.

All three schools are from the Coastal Plains Conference.

Lejeune, which won the 1-A East Regional, repeated as boys’ state champs while Swain County won the girls’ title, their fourth straight. Lejeune beat out Corvian Community, scoring 74 points compared to 78 for Corvian.

Swain County senior Arizona Blankenship won her second individual title, crossing the finish line in 18:11.68, a new state-championship-best time. She won a state title in 2021.

Northside’s boys runners were:

1. Andrew Harding, 15:28.34
2. Avery Roberson, 18:41.63
3. Benjamin Hux, 19:53.92
4. William Arce, 20:01.67
5. Luke Mirabella, 20:25.16
6. Blake Wainwright, 20:32.38
7. Colten Smith, 20:57.29

Northside’s girls runners were:

65. Emrie Scott, 24:51.30
66. Trinity Modlin, 26:16.75
67. Ava Hedgepeth, 26:49.93
68. Emma Boyd, 27:24.40
69. Kinsey White, 28:10.31
70. Bailey Singleton, 28:37.18
71. Corabeth Asby, 30:22.32

Click here to see the individual and team results:

Boys’ results | Girls’ results

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