East Chapel Hill's Carolyn Baskir showed she had the stuff to compete with the nation's best high school cross-country runners last weekend, when she recorded the second-fastest time ever run on the WakeMed Soccer Park course and won the girls Race of Champions in The Great American Cross Country Festival.

Baskir ran a personal best of 17:14 on the 5K course last weekend. Last year on the same course, Baskir won the Wolfpack Invitational in 18:26, helping East Chapel Hill finish in second place in the team standings. She went on to win the NCHSAA 1,600 meters in track and field last spring.

Last Saturday, Baskir was challenged in the final quarter-mile when Samantha Nadel of North Shore High School in New York passed her.

"I watched her [pass me] and she wasn't pulling away. I was thinking 'No, I think I can catch her,' " said Baskir, who reclaimed the lead within 100 yards and finished three seconds ahead of Nadel. Diane Robison of Parkway Central in Chesterfield, Mo., was third in 17:37.

Baskir's win helped East Chapel Hill to an eighth-place team finish.

Chargers undefeated

Northwood completed an undefeated regular season in Central Carolina Golf Conference matches when it won the composite league's championship tournament Monday at Crooked Creek GC in Fuquay-Varina. Emma Marlatt of Chapel Hill High School shot 81 to tie Northwood's Emily Brooks and Maggie Denny for medalist honors, and all three earned all-conference honors along with Avri Smith (NWD); Caroline Jones (CHHS); Caitlyn Threadgill (Carrboro); Elisabeth McFarland (Cardinal Gibbons); Katie Koltz (ECH); Rachel Wynne (NWD) and Elizabeth Peele (ECH).

Northwood's Karen Crisp was named coach of the year.

... and in tennis

Northwood's Claire Pauley and Catherine Shachtman upped their undefeated streak in doubles to 12-0 last week, despite a 5-4 team loss to Cedar Ridge in midweek. Pauley won three times in singles as well, winning against Cedar Ridge and twice against Durham School of the Arts (including completion of a rain-delayed match from September.) Shachtman sat out singles in one of Northwood's two wins against DSA but picked up singles wins against the Bulldogs and Cedar Ridge.

Wildcats top DA

In a rare meeting between field hockey's reigning state champions, East Chapel Hill downed Durham Academy, 2-1, Friday at DA. The Cavaliers are the defending state champion for private schools and East Chapel Hill for N.C.'s public schools.

The Wildcats (11-2) got goals from Helen Newton and Alison Woloszczuk against the Cavaliers, getting an assist from Helen Newton.

That capped a week of three wins for the Wildcats, who shut out Riverside 10-0 Monday in Durham and then Mt. Tabor 6-0 Wednesday at home. Newton was the leading scorer with five goals and four assists over the three games. Anscher and Woloszczuk had four goals apiece, Katie Walter and Sophie Laas-Nesbitt two goals each. Rachel Henke tallied three assists for the week, while Kearny Ferguson, Erica Thomas, Julie Canon, Laurie Janzen and Victoria Beja-Glasser each assisted on at least one goal.

Meanwhile, Chapel Hill quietly went about its business and upped its undefeated record to 12-0 with wins over Riverside (by a 3-0 score) and Mt. Tabor (4-1).

That sets the table for Monday's showdown between CHHS and East at Chapel Hill High School. The JVs play at 4:45 p.m., followed by the varsities' match at 6 p.m.

CHHS in home stretch

Chapel Hill High's volleyball team improved to 18-4 last week with a pair of conference wins on the road over Northern Vance (25-13 25-17 22-25, 25-17) Tuesday at Henderson and at Oxford Webb (25-18, 25-20, 25-16) Thursday. Kiaya Robinson paced the Tigers' attack with 29 kills over the two games, while Katelyn Layden had 23 kills aggregate; Elise Healy racked up 51 assists, while versatile Megan McCluskey had 11 kills and seven blocks over the two games. (See Scoreboard for more results.)

CHHS, 6-2 in the Carolina-Nine Conference, returns home to host Riverside on Monday and then Southern Vance on the Tigers' "Senior Night" on Tuesday. They'll wrap up their regular season on the road Thursday at longtime rival Orange.

Golfers in the money

Pete Seagroves III of Chapel Hill shot 72-70-69 for a 2-under-par 211 and a piece of fifth place last month in the North Carolina Mid-Amateur Championship of the Carolinas Golf Association, hosted by Pinewood Country Club in Asheboro. That earned him $312 in prizes. Jeff Jamieson also finished in the prize money ($100) after he fought his way back from a first-round 75 to get in with a 220 total and to tie for 22nd.

Tradd McCrary and Mark Suto of Chapel Hill also took part in the 16th annual event, as did Jacob Blankenship of Cedar Grove.

In Aiken, S.C., Chuck Reich of Chapel Hill tied for 25th with a 3-day total of 227 in the Carolinas Senior Amateur Championship. He won $100 in prizes. Mark Kozel tied for 37th with his total of 231, just one stroke better than 3 Cups owner Lex Alexander. Munroe Cobey also finished in the top 100 in the event played at Palmetto Golf Club.

Heels to help at auction

Former UNC all-ACC wideout Octavus Barnes will host a charitable sports auction on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at Amra's nightclub (106 Glenwood Ave.) in Raleigh. The auction will benefit the Sallie B. Howard School for the Arts & Education, a K-8 charter school based in Wilson. Other attendees expected include UNC football alum Brian Simmons and Carolina women's basketball star and coach Charlotte Smith, plus Barnes' fellow Wilson Fike alum Carlester Crumpler.

Barnes, a Wilson Fike alum who's spent the last five years as an academic advisor for student athletes at his Chapel Hill alma mater, has helped raise over $150,000 for good causes by organizing events like San Francisco 49ers cornerback Dre Bly's Annual Celebrity Golf Challenge.

Cozart-Seagroves clinches No. 1 seed

300 East Main Street made a run at the top of the table in Carrboro Co-Rec Softball, winning its last seven games season, but couldn't catch Cozart-Seagroves as the regular season came to end last week. Cozart-Seagroves, the last team to beat 300 East Main (15-6 on Sept. 1,) finished at 15-2 and will enter next week's league tournament at Anderson Community Park with a bye as the No. 1 seed.

East Main got some measure of revenge with a 21-11 win over C-S on Tuesday and wrapped up with a 21-19 win Thursday over Armadillo Grill. Seeded No. 2 in the tournament, East Main (14-3) will play the No. 3-seeded Ghost Riders (9-8) at 6:45 p.m. in Tuesday's first round.

Bread & Butter (3-14) and Armadillo Grill (4-13) will meet in a play-in game at 7:55 p.m. Tuesday, with the winner moving on to play Cozart-Seagroves at 9:05 p.m. The double-elimination tournament continues Thursday, and Carrboro's champion will be crowned Oct. 27.

Briefly ...

North Carolina No. 2-ranked men's soccer team was at No. 6 Wake Forest on Friday. (The ACC match was played too late for today's edition of the Chapel Hill News. See www.newsobserver.com or this weekend's editions of the News & Observer for more.) The Tar Heels return home Tuesday to face Campbell and then Boston College on Saturday. Both those home matches begin at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field. ... The 4th annual Walk for Animal Protection will be on Saturday, Nov. 7, (rain or shine) starting at the village green at Southern Village. ... UNC's Kristi Eveland was named a finalist for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, an honor given to one male and one female senior soccer player who exemplifies excellence in the areas of classroom, character, community and competition... ACC women's soccer has four teams in the Top 10 of the Soccer America rankings: North Carolina in the No. 3 spot, Florida State at No. 5, Virginia Tech No. 6 and Boston College is at No. 7. Maryland is ranked 17th and Wake Forest 22nd to give the ACC six teams among the Top 25. ... With 18 assists over 11 games, North Carolina junior midfielder Katelyn Falgowski is leading the NCAA's field hockey teams with 1.68 assists per game. Falgowski has tallied at least one assist in every game this season. Meanwhile, UNC's defense has pitched eight straight shutouts and has not allowed a goal since a 4-1 win against Wake Forest on Sept. 4.