1997 4A State Champions: Leesville Road
Raleigh Leesville Road High School won the 1997 4A Boys Team Title, scoring 48 points to defeat a strong team from Watauga, with 64. Watauga had beaten Leesville Road for the championship the year before, 53 to 68. One year earlier, in 1995, both teams scored 109, with Leesville Road winning the tie-breaker for it's first state title. Watauga had won the 1994 title.
A few days after this photo was taken, Leesville Road was ranked 16th on The Harrier's FootLocker/adidas Super25 National High School Rankings. Leesville Road returns 4 of its top 6 in 1998.
The team members, with their state meet time, are (from L to R): Russ Cunningham (16:33), Alan DeMatteis (16:12),co-captain Craig Littlefield (15:51), Dean Bowker (15:42), Jon Bell (15:45), co-captain Phil Rogers (16:38), and Rich Berger (16:20). Bowker, Littlefield, and Rogers are seniors. Bell, DeMatteis, Berger, and Cunningham juniors.
Photo by Brett Honeycutt