Owen senior Craig Webb races to state championship

Cross country athlete claims first individual title in program history

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 31, 2025

Owen senior Craig Webb is the 2025 NCHSAA 3A Cross Country State Champion, following his victory, Oct. 31, in Kernersville. The distance runner is the first in school history to claim an individual title in the event. Photo courtesy of Owen Cross Country

Days before embarking on the approximately 140-mile ride to Kernersville, Owen senior Craig Webb was relaxed as he prepared to attempt to accomplish what no other distance runner representing his school has done before.

He needed exactly 16:20.72, on the 5,000-meter course of the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex, Oct. 31, to become the first Warhorse to claim an individual cross country state championship.

The Owen cross country team collected state titles in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2022, but no runner in representing the Swannanoa Valley school had claimed first in the NCHSAA Cross Country State Championship meet until this year.

Webb began the season with a victory in the 3,000-meter Rocket Chase Race and earned six first-place finishes in the 5K events, including his title run. While his time in the championship meet was nearly 9 seconds higher than his regional performance and nearly 34 seconds above his personal record of 15:46.6, he entered the final stretch with a commanding lead.

Webb finished more than 28 seconds ahead of N.C. School of Science and Math runner Joshua Harvill and 35 seconds in front of third-place Yariel Rodriguez, of Union Academy.

A key member of the program that has claimed eight consecutive Western Highlands Conference championships, Webb earned second place in the state 3,200-meter run in the 2024 track and field championship meet and first in the region last year.

As a team, the Warhorses finished 10th among the teams in the state.