MORAVIAN FALLS -- East Wilkes boys cross country team dominated the top places and won the five-school Wilkes Central Invitational on a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon.

The Cardinals had five runners in the top seven -- their best placing of the season -- led by Eric Blackburn's runner-up finish in 17:27. Matt Trivette took fourth (18:32), Chas Deal fifth (18:55), Jordan Stamper sixth (19:00) and John Holbrook seventh (19:06) for the Cards, who are now ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 1A by NCRunners.com.

East Wilkes won the boys meet with 24 team points (lowest score wins). Wilkes Central took second in its own meet with 36 points, followed by West Wilkes 78 and North Wilkes 141. Starmount had runners in the field but not enough to factor into the team scoring.

"The boys are working very hard and continue to improve with each race," head coach Anita Tharpe said. "They are starting to believe in the themselves and run with confidence and pride. It was a beautiful, but hot race. It was really nice to see all those red uniforms up front."

Chase Miller of Wilkes Central won the boys competition in 17:19, eight seconds ahead of Blackburn.

"They waged a good battle the entire race," assistant coach Dan Merritt said of the top two finishers. "Eric was a couple of strides behind him. Only in the last 400 meters was the race decided as Miller's finishing kick secured the win."

Not to be outdone, the East Wilkes girls also enjoyed a strong showing Tuesday. Anna Hayes won the 5K race in 20:26, and the Lady Cardinals placed second as a team.

Hayes outdueled Wilkes Central's Kayla Branciforte -- last year's Mountain Valley 2A cross country champion -- by 40 seconds. Branciforte had set the pace early.

Kelsey Redding placed sixth for East in 23:14. The rest of the Cardinal scoring runners were Dana Prevette (13th, 25:29), Kayla Jones (14th, 25:34) and Deanna Calloway (20th in 28:35).

Wilkes Central won the girls team competition with 34 points. East scored 52, West Wilkes 63 and Starmount 85. The East girls also are ranked No. 5 in the state.

Other boys runners from East Wilkes on Tuesday included Pedro Jaimes (14th, 20:10), Silvery Souther (24th), Cody Billings (29th), Brewer Logan (31st) an Dylan Jessup (32nd). Other girls finishers for the Cardinals were Taylor Jolly (22nd), Kary Durham (24th) and Tiffany Smith (30th).

East freshman Carol Blankenship, who likely would have been in the top five Tuesday, did not run while nursing an injury. "We hope she'll be in action next week," Tharpe said.

The next meet in Tuesday, also hosted by Wilkes Central.