County schools compete in Alleghany Invitational

The Lord Botetourt and James River cross country teams competed in the Alleghany Invitational at the Jackson River Sports Complex in Covington last Saturday, and both teams had some good times.

Christiansburg swept the meet, winning team titles in both the boys and girls races. There were 19 complete teams in the boys race and 14 in the girls race.

Lord Botetourt took sixth in the boys race while James River was 13^th. The overall winner was Lawson Mecom of Christiansburg with a time of 15:56. Lord Botetourt’s Carter Hudson and Cole Stelter came in 12^th and 13^th at 17:14 and 17:20. Also scoring for the Cavaliers were Tristan Marshall in 27^th, Jonah Clark in 65^th and Landon Hayes in 77^th place among 152 boys who finished.

For River, Michael Jorgensen was 17^th with a personal best time of 17:31. Also scoring were John Laughridge in 51^st, Cayden Shorter in 60^th, Ryan Steger in 79^th and Colt Race-Waller in 132^nd place.

“We were missing our No. 4 runner, Silas Miller, which affected our team score,” said River coach Butch Lewis. “Ryan Steger, who is on the golf team, is running for us and in his first race ran 19:38. This is a very good time for a first race and he will give us a solid fifth runner that we did not have.”

Kiera Lowman of Alleghany, a freshman, won the girls varsity race with a time of 18:41. Lord Botetourt finished eighth as a team and Erna Dietrich led the Cavaliers with a time of 21:05, good for 15^th place. Also scoring were Hatlyn Haggerty in 34^th, Alexa Carillo in 72^nd, Elizabeth Meadows in 73^rd and Amelia Dietrich in 75^th place. There were 128 girls in the race.

River just recently had a fifth runner come out so this was the first time the Knights had a complete five-girl team. Victoria Race-Waller led River with a 99^th place finish in 27:39. Also scoring were Madeline Rutledge in 103^rd, Anna Davidson in 106^th, Jacmyn Rinehart in 112^th and Yazim Lopez-Capo in 117^th place.

River will return to action on October 5 at the Alta Mons Invitational in Montgomery County. Both county teams will be participating in the Blue Ridge Invitational at the Greenfield course in Botetourt County on October 8.