Watauga Sweeps 6A Cross Country State Titles
Watauga High School's boys and girls cross country teams both won North Carolina 6A state championships in the same year for the first time in school history.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Running
The Watauga boys' team won the 6A state title with 77 points, three ahead of runner-up Asheville, while the girls' team scored 50 points to beat Mount Tabor's 71. The sweep came at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association championships in Kernersville.
Why it matters
The double championship marks a milestone for the program, which has now won six girls' state titles, and reflects strong depth across the top five scoring runners on each team. Results like this shape how North Carolina high school distance programs are recognized statewide.
Team scores are determined by each squad's top five finishers, and the Watauga girls' 21-point margin over Mount Tabor was the wider of the two victories. The sources do not detail individual splits or other race-level metrics beyond finishing places.
The players
Watauga High School
A public high school in Watauga County, North Carolina, whose boys and girls cross country teams both claimed 6A state titles this season.
North Carolina High School Athletic Association
The statewide governing body for interscholastic athletics in North Carolina, which hosts the annual state championship meets.
The details
Asheville placed first and third individually, while Watauga's Jonah Pearson and Evan Gordon took eighth and ninth, and James Bostrom and Parker Williams finished 14th and 15th; Williams ran most of the race with one shoe. Cali Townsend, Josie Mayo and Maia Carter finished in the top 10 for the girls, and freshman Kate James Moore placed 11th.
Timeline
1994: Watauga boys won the 4A state cross country championship.
1995: Watauga girls won the 4A state title, and the boys tied Leesville Road for first before losing on the sixth runner tiebreaker.
1999: Watauga boys won the 4A state cross country championship.
November 8, 2025: Watauga boys and girls won 6A state cross country titles.
Season Trajectory
Watauga's double title extends a program history that includes the 1995 girls' state championship and the boys' tie with Leesville Road that year, and this is the first time both teams have won in the same season. The result gives the school a dual-gender state record that the program had come close to matching three decades ago.
Fans following North Carolina high school distance running can use these team scores to gauge which programs carry depth into future seasons. The double title signals that Watauga's top five runners on both squads performed consistently at the state meet.
The takeaway
A team's state title depends on its top five scorers finishing consistently, not just on one standout runner. Watauga's sweep shows how depth across both boys' and girls' rosters can produce a rare same-year double.
Further reading
For more coverage of distance racing, see Running news across the state.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Watauga Democrat.
