HOPE MILLS - West Johnston's preference for using dual meets to run in a pack, shooting at a specific group time doesn't make for much excitement during the season. But it's that pack mentality that has turned the Wildcats' squads into real threats for top-five finishes in Saturday's NCSHAA 4-A state cross country championships at Tanglewood.

The Wildcat boys squad won its first ever regional championship last Saturday at South View High School, placing six of their seven runners in the top 13 individually and all seven of their runners in the top 35.

West finished with 33 team points, 50 points better than runner-up South View.

The Wildcat girls squad was second in the region with 50 points, just two points behind regional winner Fayetteville Terry Sanford.

Four area individuals also qualified for states: Garner's Michelle Bailey, and Ryan Rudisill, Catie Simmons and Charity Lackey, all of Clayton.

West's biggest headlines at previous state meets have come from the individual finishes of former standouts Dakota Lowery and Dakota Peachee. This year, Wildcat coach Patrick Shaw likes his team's chances better.

"This is the way you need to run to have any hopes of finishing in the top-three at states," said Shaw, whose Wildcat boys squad was ranked third entering the regional round. "You really need that 40- to 45-second grouping with your first five runners.

"There will be probably five or six teams at the top [this weekend] and the team that has the tightest pack will come out on top."

Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference champion Chad Massengill led West Johnston's group in the regional. He finished second in 15:57.72, while fellow West senior Eric Baldwin was third in 16:02.39.

"Chad is a very experienced four-year runner for us and he's become a great leader," Shaw said. "He's really matured into his role on this team and is giving us the kind of senior leadership you want to get from veterans. Some kids don't do well in that situation but Chad has thrived as a leader this year."

"Eric was running in his first regional meet but you couldn't tell it. He had a good really race and gave us two seniors leading the way."

Chris Garrett (sixth in 16:20.09), Ben Schoeneman (10th in 16:41), Bobby Baraldi (12th in 16:42.15) and Jeremy Gower (13th in 16:42.7) also paced in the top-15 for West Johnston. Chris McGuire finished 33rd for the Wildcats as well.

"The boys ran pretty much what I expected them to run," said West Johnston coach Patrick Shaw. "I knew they could run well and would probably run well, it was just a matter of how tight of a group we maintained.

"It was really a solid day for us."

West's girls also earned the second and third individual finishing positions. Senior Ashley Matthews took the runner-up spot in 18:45.8, while fellow senior Kelly Montague was third at 18:53.09.

"We knew that Terry Sanford was just as good as we are, coming in," Shaw said. "In fact, I think I told the girls that a couple of points would make the difference. They just had a little bit tighter pack than we did today.

"We ran well and competed hard, but just finished second [as a team]."

Dakota Foskey (19:53.29) placed 15th for the Wildcats, a spot ahead teammates Lauren Pollard (19:54.39) and Megan Matthes (20:03.05). Scarlett Beamon added a 33rd place finish for the Wildcats.

Clayton's Rudisill finished 16th among boys in 16:53.87.

The top-four finishing teams and the top four individuals not on those four qualifying teams earned bids to the state meet. The Comets were ninth in the team standings. Senior Will Crabtree finished 50th for the Comets as well, running a 18:00.13.

Smithfield-Selma took 11th with Kerran Green and Tyler Simmons pacing the Spartan effort. Green was 45th in 17:51.99, while Simmons took 47th at 17:54.83.

Southeast Raleigh claimed 14th place, paced by Elijah Adams. Adams took 31st place in 17:18.28. Southeast's John Lynch was 40th.

Garner's boys were led by Taylor Brunson who finished 54th in 18:13.32. The Trojans placed 16th in the team standings. Michael Roberts-Brown (18:31.34) also added a 67th place finish for Garner.

Back on the girls' side, Clayton - paced by Catie Simmons and Lackey - took sixth overall with 162 points. Aubrey Allen (39th in 21:20.04), Emily Simmons (44th in 21:30.27) and Keni Harrison (49th in 21:41.8) also finished in the top-50 for the Comets.

Bailey, the Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference champion, finished seventh individually in 19:28.03. She ran in the top-three for the first half of the race.

Southeast Raleigh took 10th on the girls' side with Shakira Worsley finishing 25th in 20:31.04.

Smithfield-Selma was 15th. Spartans' sophomore Cassandra Lindquist finished 22nd with a run of 20:23.63. Junior Mary Stuart Harris finished 81st in 23:21.38.