For the third consecutive year, the West Johnston Wildcats ran away with the championship hardware in ruling the Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference Cross Country Championships.

Led by senior Chad Massengill, the Wildcats boys placed six runners among the top seven finishers in amassing 17 points to easily out-distance runner-up Clayton, which tallied 75 points.

Massengill crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 25.62 seconds in holding off teammates Eric Baldwin (16:33.51) and Christopher Garrett (16:39.34) as West swept the top three positions.

Clayton's Ryan Rudisill prevented the 'Cats from a perfect score, holding off West's Bobby Baraldi for fourth place overall, finishing in 16:51.18, to Baradli's 16:51.37.

Massengill said that Rudisill was his biggest challenge on the 3.1-mile Wendell Community Park course.

"He's good and a steady runner," Massengill said of Rudisill. "But I think we started out a little hard, but after that it felt good.

"I made my move right before we went into the woods for the first mile. He took off early and I hung with him until he came back to the pack, then I passed him."

Rudisill made one final charge before fading to his fourth-place finish.

"He sped up when we got to the hill," Massengill said, "but I caught up with him again and passed over there by the trees."

Ben Schoeneman (16:57.87) and Jeremy Gower notched sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively for the 'Cats to clinch the meet.

Rudisill's effort paced the Comets, who used an 11th-plce finish by Timothy Holtzhauser (17:43.70), 18th from Will Crabtree (18:35.04), 20th from Logan Shively (18:46.30) and 26th from Stefan Garcia (19:23.28) to account for its team score.

"I was really pleased with our boys; they competed really well," said Wildcats coach Patrick Shaw. "It's a small meet, but it's a competitive meet.

"We wanted to come out and out our best foot forward and I think we did that."

Smithfield-Selma placed third with 85 points, followed by Southeast Raleigh (125), Harnett Central (129), Garner (140), East Wake (173) and Knightdale (198).

Scoring for the Spartans were Kerran Green (9th, 17:35.26); Tyler Simmons (12th, 17:48.91); Andrew Autry (16th, 18:10.77); Kyle McKeel (21st, 18:49.36 and Collins Creech (27th, 19:40.98).

Pacing the Bulldogs were Elijah Adams (8th, 17:23.27); John Lynch (14th, 18:00.14); Maurizo Lewis (32nd, 20:25.24); Bruce Glenn (34th, 20:26.41); (41st, 21:48.61)and Nathan Moore (44th, 22:02.66).

Garner's top five finishers were Taylor Brunson (17th, 18:22.86); Mike Brown (19th, 18:43.83); Lucas Berkey (31st, 20:15.05); David Huey (36th, 20:42.68) and Ryan Best (37th, 20:46.73).

The Wildcats easily ruled the girls meet, placing five runners among the top nine finishers and seven in the top 12 to finish with 26 unofficial points.

Clayton placed second with 54 unofficial points, while Harnett Central was third (112), East Wake fourth (140) and Garner fifth (153).

Smithfield-Selma, Southeast Raleigh and Knightdale did not have enough entries for a five-person team score.

The Trojans' Michelle Bailey stunned the Wildcats' Ashley Matthews and Kelly Montague in capturing the girls meet in a time of 19:02.78.

Matthews placed second in 19:15.03 and Montague third in 19:40.44.

"We knew Michelle, from [what we saw her do last year in] track and field, was really good," Shaw said. "I've seen Michelle run, and she's really good and really talented - she ran an awesome race.

"Ashley ran well and Kelly had a tough day, but that's the way it goes sometimes - you suck it up and score as little points for the team as possible."

Lauren Pollard placed fifth for the Wildcats with a time of 20:17.04 while Dakota Foskey was seventh in 20:18.56 and Megan Matteson ninth in 20:46.01 to account for their team score.

Clayton, which placed five runners among the top 16 finishers and six in the top 18, was led by Catie Simmons, fourth in 19:42.32. She was joined in the team scoring by Charity Lackey (6th, 20:17.71); Aubrey Allen (13th, 21:14.16); Emily Simmons (15th, 21:20.62) and Claire Orsega (16th, 21:55.97).

Following Bailey across the stripe for Garner were Gabi Dugal (20th, 23:04.99); Bennett McKenzie (26th, 24:45.25); Mary Scott Howell (38th, 28:35.22) and Catherine Root (41st, 30:30.94).

Competing for Smithfield-Selma were Cassandra Lindquist (8th, 20:31.73) and Mary Stewart Harris (21st, 23:38.44).

Southeast Raleigh was represented by Chirquira Worsley (11th, 20:51.89); Jasmine Edwards (24th, 24:27.45); Tabitha Rowland (27th, 25:05.82) and Ayanna Harrison (32nd, 26:02.98).