Consistency paid dividends for the Pinecrest boys' cross country team in Saturday's East 4-A Regional held in Wilmington.

Although the Patriots didn't have a runner break into the top 10, Pinecrest used a slew of runners finishing in the 11th through 18th positions to earn the regional championship, squeezing past runner-up Wilmington Hoggard 73-78.

On the girls' side of the meet, a certain symmetry played out with the Patriot runners finishing third, led by third-place finisher Lexie Schustrom, who covered the 5K course at UNC-Wilmington in a time of 19:20.82. Maraya Slatter of West Johnston finished first, helping her team also finish first with a total of 47 points. Cory Catlett of Terry Sanford finished second, and her team finished second with 69 points.

Riding Schustrom's third-place finish, the Patriot girls finished third with a total of 109 points.

In the boys' race, Pinecrest got its top finish from Derek Whitescarver, who finished 11th in a time of 16:54.09. Logan Hawke finished 13th (17:00.62), Scott Whitecar finished 14th (17:00.95), Craig Baggett finished 17th (17:05.05) and Dalton Allen 18th (17:05.50) to provide the five scoring places for the Patriots.

Dakota Peachee of West Johnston won the race in a time of 15:45.70, while his team finished third with a total of 80 points. Jack Britt, which had upset the Pinecrest boys' in the Mid-Southeastern Conference championship meet, finished fifth, missing out on a trip to next Saturday's state meet at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons. Only the top-four teams advance to the state meet.

The Pinecrest girls also advanced to the state meet by virtue of its third-place finish. Joining Schustrom in scoring points for the Pats were Haley Germain (19th, 20:36.67), Madison Hart (23rd, 21:10.00), Ashley Brock (26th, 21:14.02) and Fay Chu (38th, 21:50.01).

Each team had seven runners competing, with the top-five finishers providing the scoring points. For the Patriot girls, Jenna Woronoff finished 60th in a time of 22:28.40 and Katana Lemelin finished 65th in a time of 22:49.07.

Participating, but not scoring, for the boys were Jacob Allen, who finished 28th in a time of 17:25.98 and Tyler Clark, who finished 40th in a time of 17:51.05.