The Mathews High School cross country teams had a strong conclusion to their record setting seasons, as Emily Brown earned All-State honors and both the boys and girls squads finished fourth at Saturday’s Group A State Championships at Great Meadows.

Chris Barnhardt led the Devil boys (112 points) to a school-record fourth place finish by placing 17th and narrowly missing All-State honors in 17:10. Jamie van Emmerik placed 25th in 17:17 to finish in the top 25 for the third consecutive season. Russell Reed (30th, 17:28) and John Miles (33rd, 17:29) both ran personal bests to put the Devils in prime position for a top-three finish.

However, the top end depth of Altavista (66), Lebanon (73) and Radford (105) kept the Devils off the podium as all three squads were able to get their top five in before Mathews was able to complete scoring.

Although Mathews was unable to earn a podium finish, the 54th place finish of Kyle Slaughter (18:03) clinched the best finish in Mathews hi...