The Lord Botetourt and James River cross country teams competed in a massive Knights Crossing invitational cross country event last Saturday. Cave Spring hosted the event at Green Hill Park in west Roanoke County.
“Knights Crossing is one of the most competitive meets of the season, drawing over 100 high schools from all over the East Coast,” said LB coach Noel Preece. “This was our first time running full rosters for both men’s and women’s teams this season.”
LB ran in the “Red” Division for Virginia public schools and out of state teams. For the ladies, senior Anne Thorne led the charge with a 99th place finish out of over 300 runners. Following her home were standout freshman Grace Hoover and senior Addison Purser. The freshman trio of Laurel Wiley and the Vess twins, Cameron and Allison, rounded out the varsity roster, posting impressive performances in their 5K debuts.
For the men, Preston Vaughn posted one of the fastest times in school history, moving up to fourth all-time for LB behind only Eric Duncan (’25), Ethan Thorne (’25), and Zeke Hunsberger (’09). Behind Vaughn, Archer Lee and Mason Tuck both posted PRs to lead home freshman Caleb Thorne and junior Owen Mattarocchia.
“Between both teams, every non-debutant ran a personal best with the exception of one athlete who is returning from injury and two who are returning from seasons in non-running sports,” said Preece. “Coach Altman, Coach Foutz, and I are incredibly proud of these young athletes and excited to see them continue to showcase the fitness that they have built over the summer.”
Cardinal Gibbons won the boys’ Red team title among 39 teams competing while Blacksburg won the girls’ title.
Photos by Jon Fleming
James River ran in the “Black” division, for smaller Virginia public schools and private schools. Covenant Day School won both the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
For the Knights, Braden Jones was a little under the weather, but still had a season PR of 20 seconds. Mark Voight improved by almost a minute over last year’s time, 19:20 to an 18:28, and Charlie Stull earned an all-time PR by over 40 seconds with a new PR of 19:00.
Nolan Linthicum earned an all time PR by 24 seconds and ran a 19:04 while Barrett Pace improved his season PR by over a minute and beat his last year’s time by over a minute and 30 seconds. Brody Stewart got a season PR by over a minute and beat last year’s time by a minute while Brandon Baka-Collins had a four-minute PR.
For the girls, Maddie Davidson raced 30 seconds faster than last year’s time and had a season PR by over a minute. She also medaled 20th.
Maren Pauley was slightly under the weather but still ran a minute faster than last year. Macy Weddle had a 10 second PR, Jasmine Montgomery earned a minute and 20 second PR and Holly Weddle ran a season PR by about 15 seconds. Alex Bona had a very strong race and earned a season PR by over three minutes and Jacey Walker ran a season PR and dropped four minutes off of her time this year.
“The girls as a whole team are showing lots of growth and improvement together,” said River coach Daphne Davidson. “It’s exciting to see them work towards common and also individual goals.
“Our boys team is steady as it has always been and continues to push through and gain ground.”
The Knights also ran in the Bengal Clash at the Smith River Complex in Axton last week. Jones ran 20 seconds faster than he did on the same course last year while Voight ran almost a minute faster than last year. On the girls’ side Holly Weddle and Bona both ran 30 seconds faster on the course than last year.
This Saturday James River will run at the New Market Battle Field cross country course while Lord Botetourt will run at Longwood University.
