The event includes seven different races, beginning with an elementary school run for both boys and girls at 9 a.m. The middle school boys will run at 9:30 a.m., followed by the girls at 10 a.m. The varsity races will be at 10:30 a.m. for the boys and 11:15 for the girls and jayvee races will wrap up the day beginning at noon.
The Jackson River Sports Complex course is extremely flat, with only 67 total feet of elevation and a groomed grass surface, multiple clean bathrooms, concessions and a large parking area. It was the location of the 2018 Region 3D and 2020 Region 2C Championship races.
The James River team was off last week, but the Lord Botetourt runners competed in the Clash with the Titans at Hidden Valley High School. Blacksburg’s boys and girls both won the varsity team races while Lord Botetourt was runner-up in both.
Ella Johnston of LB won the girls race in a time of 20:23.17, winning by 14 seconds over Reese Bradbury of Blacksburg. Sydney Vokus was fourth overall at 21:02.97 and Ema Dietrich was sixth at 21:27.53. Also scoring for the Cavs were Karley Burks in 29th place and Hatlyn Haggerty in 32nd.
For the boys, Evan Gates finished seventh overall with a time of 18:02.92. The winning time was 17:35.96 by Ryan Connelly of Northside. Also scoring for LB were Carter Hudson in 11th place at 18:29.29, Rye Jackson in 17th, Aiden Dietrich in 19th and Cole Stelter in 23rd.
Landon Hays and Ethan Thorne finished 10th and 11th in the middle school race at Hidden Valley and Elizabeth Meadows of LB was eighth in the girls’ jayvee race.
