The Cardinals finished tied with Bishop McGuinness atop the leaderboard after the 5K race. Each school compiled 43 points, with Bishop winning the tiebreaker by virtue of its No. 6 runner placing ahead of East's.
Cardinal junior Eric Blackburn crossed the line first individually with a time of 17:30. Bishop's top runner, Will Scott, came in 15 seconds later.
East Wilkes snapped up third place, thanks to Matthew Trivette's strong effort (18:10). Jordan Stamper earned seventh in 18:48, John Holbrook was 12th in 19:39 and Silvery Souther completed the Cards scoring by taking 20th in 20:30.
Bishop's depth made the difference when the meet went to the tiebreaker. The Villains' sixth place runner finished 25th, while East's sixth man, Pedro Jaimes, took 28th overall (27th for scoring purposes). Bishop also had runners cross in 26th and 27th, but a school's finishers after its seventh runner don't count in the scoring.
"We were very proud of the boys and the effort they gave," assistant coach Dan Merritt said. "Instead of being disappointed in just missing the win they were encouraged, and it has made them more hungry to continue to improve and race them again."
South Stokes placed third with 70 points, followed by West Wilkes 97, North Stokes 107 and Alleghany 135.
"In our two previous meetings with all (conference) schools we finished third both times behind Bishop McGuinness and South Stokes, so we are making strides in the right direction," Merritt said. "The goal is to come out on top at the conference championships on Oct 17."
Bishop is ranked No. 1 in the state in girls cross country. As expected, the Villains won the girls race Tuesday, but East Wilkes pushed them at the front of the pack on the way to second place in the team standings.
Anna Hayes placed second overall for the Lady Cardinals, clocking a time of 20:21. Carol Blankenship earned fourth in 21:03.
Bishop's Cissy Nitz pulled away from Hayes over the final half mile to take the win in 19:52. Heather Hoffman was third (20:31), Katie Pellitteri fifth (21:13), Meredith Bennett sixth (21:35) and Alyssa Gaudio ninth (22:21) to complete the Villains' scoring of 24 points.
East Wilkes finished with 54 points, followed by West Wilkes 79 and South Stokes 84. Alleghany, Mount Airy, East Surry and North Stokes did not have enough runners to field a full team for the girls race.
Dana Prevette and Kayla Jones ran strong for East Wilkes, placing 19th and 20th respectively (25:31 and 25.43). Kelsey Redding placed 22nd (26:25) for the final Cardinal points.
"Anna is making strides back to her old form after suffering a bout with anemia, and actually her time is quicker on this course than last year at this time," Merritt said. "Carol has been nursing a sore quad muscle so was not 100 percent Tuesday. We hope to have her back to full strength soon."
Other boys finishers from East Wilkes were Allen Settle (35th, 21:39), Brewer Logan (44th, 23:32), Cody Billings (49th, 23:45), Chris Howard (53rd, 26:03) and Dylan Jessup (54th, 26:35). Other girls finishers from East were Deanna Calloway (25th, 28:24), Kary Durham (27th, 28:36), Taylor Jolly (33rd, 29:38), Tiffany Smith (35th, 31:29) and Esmerlada Alfaro (36th, 31:37).
The East Wilkes girls are ranked sixth in the state in the last 1A coaches poll compiled by NCRunners.com. The East boys are ninth.
The next race for the Cardinals will be Saturday, also at Fisher River Park. The invitational will feature about 15 schools.
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