CLEMMONS — At the two-mile mark of Saturday’s NCHSAA 4-A state cross country championship race, Green Hope was in position to follow up last week’s regional win with a state title.

Then, with about three-quarters of a mile to go, Bryan Spreitzer felt a pain he’d never experienced and was forced to step off the course at Tanglewood Park, taking with him the Falcons’ state championship hopes.

“Bryan was giving his whole effort and something happened,” said Green Hope coach Mike Miragliuolo. “He had some kind of cramp he hadn’t had before and he had a tough time getting oxygen. … When he stepped out, we knew going back to our sixth [runner] would add some points.”

In the end, the Mideast Regional and Tri-Eight champs finished third, with 114 points, while Broughton claimed the state championship with 81. Enloe was second with 101.

“It’s a little bit hard when it’s something so close,” said Green Hope junior Zak Roshy, who finished 13th overall in 16:58.59. “But things happen for a reason. We can’t regret anything. Everyone did the best they could. … I just wish we could’ve given it this year to our seniors [Brian Pahle and Michael Santry].”

Roshdy, Doug Black (16:59.02) and Ryan Walling (17:00.35) finished in a pack together in 13th, 14th and 16th place.

At last week’s regional race, Spreitzer trailed that trio by seven seconds and represented the Falcons’ fourth runner. Because he was unable to finish Saturday, that pushed Pahle, who finished 49th overall in 17:35.26, up to the number four spot, and then factored Santry’s 60th-place finish into the score.

“We had four in the top 18, and four in front of Broughton and Enloe’s second runner,” Miragliuolo said. “It looked like a state championship.”

Chapel Hill’s Taylor Gilland held off Enloe’s Nick Graw down the homestretch to win his second straight state championship with a time of 15:59.10.

Cozzarelli runner-up

Moments after crossing the finish line in 19:10.80 and finishing second in the state cross country championship race for the fourth straight time, Apex senior Andie Cozzarelli climbed onto a training table and had a bag of ice wrapped around each leg. Her own personal cheering section of teammates and friends hovered nearby to make sure she was OK.

After a few minutes, she walked away from the tent, the pain in her legs eased and her mind satisfied with a race well run.

“I wanted to win, but I felt better than I have this whole season,” Cozzarelli said. “I caught up with her a little bit in the back, but then my legs kind of died. I finished how I wanted. I knew it would be hard to win. I really wanted to, and I was going to try, but second place is fine.”

North Mecklenburg’s Kimberly Spano won the girls’ state championship for the second straight year in 18:59.35. Her time was the only sub-19:00 race in the 127-runner field.

All four of Cozzarelli’s runner-up finishes occurred at Tanglewood Park. The closest she came to winning one was her freshman year, when she finished two seconds behind Chapel Hill’s Lindsey Nadolski.

“She was top two in the state four years in a row, and I’m not sure how often that’s been done, if it’s ever been done,” said Apex coach Roy Cooper. “She’s had a fabulous career.”

Cozzarelli has one last cross country race to run before turning her attention to the indoor and outdoor track seasons. She’ll run the Foot Locker South Regional on Nov. 24 in Charlotte.

Cary fourth, GH eighth

Just as Cary runners had regained their breath from the 5K race, it was sucked right back out of them when their team finish was announced.

The Imps finished fourth overall, 10 points behind Fayetteville Sanford for third place.

“I really thought we’d get on the stage,” said Cary coach Jerry Dotson. “I really thought we had a shot at second. … Our goal was to get top five, that truly was our goal. And we did it. But [deep exhale] we might have slid in there and got on the stage and got a plaque.”

Freshman Jenna Christenson was the Imps’ top finisher, coming in 13th in 19:58.38. She was followed by Kristen Azarelo (16th, 20:03.48), Sheridan Jordan (25th, 20:25.82), Christine Dragonette (43rd, 20:49.12) and Brittany Estermyer (86th, 21:43.57).

“I’m really happy with how we ran,” Dragonette said. “It’s disappointing to be so close out of third, but what can we do? I know we all had the best race we could have.”

Green Hope’s girls finished eighth as a team. Senior Shannon Cox squeaked into the top 20 by finishing 19th in 20:06.68.

Christine Truesdale was 40th in 20:45.53. Sarah Wilt was 46th in 20:54.03. Olivia Enright was 63rd in 21:12.59 and Jackie Keung was 75th in 21:31.49.

Other notables

Notable finishes from the boys’ race included:

• Middle Creek sophomore Mitch Turner finished 46th in 17:27.97. Teammate and classmate Trey Geiger followed in 52nd place with a time of 17:36.30.

• Cary sophomore Mohamed Abushouk finished 53rd in 17:38.10.

• Green Hope junior Scott Hefner was 125th in 19:16.90.

Notable finishes from the girls race included:

• Athens Drive junior Emily Love finished 29th in 20:30.48.

• Green Hope senior Jan Kofsky finished 98th in 22:04.32. Sophomore Jessica Brunelle finished 102nd in 22:12.16.

• Cary senior Suzanne Hutson finished 110th in 22:.38.75.