The Lord Botetourt golfers were fourth and James River was seventh in the first Botetourt Metro Invitational golf tournament at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club last week.
The event is a planned annual event hosted by the Botetourt G&SC and club pro Jeff Sprinkel. It replaces the former Bob McLelland Metro that had been held over two days in previous years. The McLelland Metro was not held last year due to COVID and Sprinkel stepped up when it was difficult to find people to run the tournament. It was trimmed to one day and 18 holes with most of the area high schools competing.
Blacksburg High won the event with a team score of 294. That was eight strokes better than second place Salem, followed by Hidden Valley at 309 and LB tied with Patrick Henry for fourth at 316. James River was seventh among 13 schools fielding full teams with a score of 322.
Nate Faulkner of Cave Spring was the medalist with a four-under-par 67. Jake Albert of Blacksburg was runner-up at 69.
Lord Botetourt’s best score was a 75 by Ashton Harper. Also scoring were Jake Koffman at 75, Hunter Duncan at 81 and Dylan Salvi at 82. Xavier Shelton also played for LB and shot 91.
River’s low score was 74 by Silas Miller, who shot a career best. Ryan Steger carded a 79, Joey Schroeder had 83 and Lacey Kessler rounded out the scoring with an 86, which was also a personal best. Heath Andrews shot 94 for the Knights.
“This team is working so hard, it’s a pleasure to watch them play,” said River coach Donna Cox.
The Knights were scheduled to play in a River Ridge District round at Floyd on Monday but that was postponed and rescheduled for September 1. River is scheduled to play at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club next Monday, Aug.23, in a non-district match against Northside.
Lord Botetourt was slated to be back in action Tuesday with a Blue Ridge District round at the Westlake Country Club.
