Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt and James River cross country teams competed in a big field of competitors in the Alleghany Invitational last Saturday. The meet was held at the Jackson River Sports Complex course in Covington.
For LB, Preston Vaughn led the Cavaliers home to place fourth individually, beating out many Class 3 rivals including state leader Enzo Coliglione of Hidden Valley. Vaughn’s performance of 15:48 makes him the third Cavalier in history to break the 16-minute barrier, and he now joins Eric Duncan and Ethan Thorne at the top of the all-time list.
Archer Lee followed Vaughn home, breaking the 17-minute barrier for the first time and missing out on the all-time top 10 list for LB by just over one second. Mason Tuck and Caleb Thorne both posted personal best times as well.
In the women’s varsity race, Anne Thorne led the pack with another season best, nabbing the final podium position in the process with a 15th place finish. She was supported by personal best performances from Laurel Wiley, Maggie Hoover, Claire Conn, and the Vess twins, Cameron and Allison.
“Almost three-quarters of the team posted personal bests today,” said LB coach Noel Preece. “The coaches and I are incredibly proud of the work that these athletes continue to put in. Our depth in the girls’ team is going to make for some tough decisions next month when we have to decide on a top seven to take to the district meet. We have at least nine girls who could make real arguments for that final varsity selection.”
For James River, Braden Jones came through in the boys’ race, running a season PR of 17:27. Mark Voight was on his heels with a new personal record of 18:01 and behind him another new record for Nolan Linthicum at 18:45.
“This season alone Nolan has shaved a full minute off of his personal record, very impressive for his third year of cross country,” said Knights’ coach Daphne Davidson.
Charlie Stull came through three seconds over his PR, but ran a very strong three mile. Barrett Pace ran a strong race and came in just shy of breaking his own personal record. Brandon Baka-Collins set another new record for himself by about 13 seconds.
“The boys’ team had very strong individual races Saturday and they are looking strong heading into mid-season,” said Davidson.
The girls followed the boys’ race and did not disappoint. Maren Pauley came in first for the Knights with a strong race, setting a new PR for herself with a time of 21:19. Maddie Davidson was a little under the weather but still ran a great race with a time of 21:35. Macy Weddle ran a strong race of 22:43, shaving off about a minute and a half off of her former PR.
Jasmine Montgomery came in fourth for the girls with a new record of 22:58, also beating her former PR by about a minute and a half. Holly Weddle ran a very consistent race, setting a brand new PR for herself, while Alex Bona keeps dropping her season times and getting closer every race to her personal record. Jacey Walker ran a great race and set a new personal record for herself by 12 seconds.
“Setting personal records (PRs) is an accomplishment that gets harder and harder the longer you run,” said Davidson. “When freshmen come in, a lot of times they and we (coaches) don’t know what they are capable of achieving. It’s very exciting to watch them start and continue their season setting PRs and getting faster. When runners have been running for years it’s much harder to take off chunks of time due to them not wanting to break out of their comfort zones, fear of getting hurt, or just self doubt.
“Watching this team continue to reach and achieve new times every season has been such an exciting journey. They are truly some of the best kids to coach and I can’t wait to see where this season ends.”
