GREENSBORO — Bottomless lungs and brute strength.

Respectively, Roberson senior Laura Hoer and junior Sequoia Watkins both brought special traits to Western North Carolina's top girls track team this spring.

Both left North Carolina A&T on Saturday with state titles from the NCHSAA 4-A meet, helping the Rams (37 points) place fourth as a team behind overall winner Wakefield (49).

Hoer raced to the line first in the always-daunting 3,200-meter run (10 minutes, 46.29 seconds) and the N.C. State recruit bettered her own school record to finish second in the 1,600 meters (4:57.79) behind Millbrook's Samantha George (4:55.67).

Since moving up to 4-A in the latest NCHSAA realignment, Roberson owes two of its three state championships to Hoer (she won the 4-A cross country meet in November).

“My senior year has just been a whirlwind filled with a lot of great experiences,” Hoer said.

“I'm happy it could end this way in my final high school meet. I'm looking forward to next year and following what everyone at Roberson does. There's a lot of potential for them.”

Watkins successfully defended her championship from 2009 in the discus (142 feet, 4 inches) and later placed fourth in the shot put (39-5.75).

“I wanted to have a good day for my team more so than myself,” Watkins said.

“It's been a great season for all of us.”

Among others, the Rams won the Buncombe County, Mountain Athletic Conference and 4-A Western Regional meets thanks to the contributions of Hoer and Watkins.

“Laura and Sequoia both had great days for us,” Roberson coach Andy Morgan said.

“We're really going to miss Laura next year. And we'll keep looking for big things out of Sequoia.”

Other scoring athletes for the Rams included senior Ashley VanLandingham, who finished eighth in the 400-meter dash (58.53) Saturday.

The University of Kentucky soccer recruit later joined Taylor Feimster, Megan McDonald and Nicole Morgan to place seventh in the 1,600-meter relay (3:58.75). McDonald was eighth in the 300 hurdles (46.80).

McDowell's Catherine Burton ran to a seventh-place finish in the 1,600-meter run (5:10.59) for her team's only points.

Story by Andrew Pearson - Asheville Citizen-Times.com