Photos by Jon Fleming
Ethan Thorne won the Class 3 state cross country meet and teammate Eric Duncan finished second as the Lord Botetourt boys raced to third place in the Virginia High School League meet. West Albemarle won the Class 3 state championship at Green Hill Park in Roanoke County last Saturday.
Duncan and Thorne led the race from the gun, pacing side-by-side through the first two miles. Thorne pulled away in the final mile to seal the individual state title as Duncan followed him home to claim runner-up.
“Perfect doesn’t exist, but there isn’t much that Thorne could have done more over the past six months to better prepare for this race,” said Lord Botetourt coach Noel Preece. “It was a well deserved victory. Likewise, Duncan has put in an exceptional summer and fall of training to put himself in this position.”
LB finished third as a team with 115 points. Western Albemarle had all five runners in the top 22 to win the team title with 50 points, followed by Rockbridge County with 89. Christiansburg was one spot behind LB with 139.
Thorne’s state winning time was 15:08.8 and Duncan was 20 seconds behind in second at 15:29. Also scoring for LB were Preston Vaughn in 24th at 16:30, John Moughrabi in 61st at 17:48, and Archer Lee at 66th place in 17:52. Vaughn’s time moved him up to seventh all-time for Lord Botetourt.
“Vaughn ran a huge personal best, cutting a massive number of points that proved to be crucial in the bid for our first-ever podium finish at the state meet,” said Preece. “Moughrabi and Lee fought hard to round out the points-scoring positions for LB, securing a third place finish for the team, the highest ever by Lord Botetourt in cross country.”
Lucas Carswell and Owen Mattarocchia closed out the final two non-scoring positions for LB.
Thorne and Duncan, both seniors, will next run in the Brooks South Regional on Nov. 29 at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, N.C., presented by Fleet Feet. They will be running unattached as they cannot represent Lord Botetourt at non-sanctioned races like the Brooks Region or Nationals.
“We expect both of these athletes to be very competitive,” said Preece. “Both runners will race in this multi-state qualifier as they make a bid to qualify for the highly prestigious Brooks National Cross Country Meet in San Diego on Dec. 13.”
