State cross country is at Green Hill Park

The James River and Lord Botetourt cross country teams will have runners competing in the state Class 2 and 3 meets this Saturday. The Class 1, 2 and 3 state races will all be held at Green Hill Park in west Roanoke County.

The day will start with the Class 3 races, with the girls at 10:30 a.m. and the boys to follow at 11:15 a.m. Erna Dietrich of LB will run in the girls race and Botetourt had two boys qualify for the state meet, Carter Hudson and Cole Stelter.

The Class 2 races are next with the girls at 11:45 a.m. and the boys taking the gun at 12:30 p.m. No Knights qualified for the girls race, but River’s boys team took third in the Region 2C meet at Green Hill Park last week and will run in the state meet as a team.

The day concludes with the Class 1 races, with the girls at 1 p.m. and the boys at 1:45 p.m. Awards will be presented after final point tallies are deemed official.

Green Hill Park was the site of the Region 2C meet last week and the James River boys had a good day. The top three teams advanced to the state meet and River was third behind two fellow Three Rivers District teams, Floyd County and Glenvar.

Michael Jorgensen was River’s top runner with a fifth place finish to earn all-region honors. Michael ran the 5,000-meter course in 16:57. The winner was Mason Erchull of Floyd County with a time of 16:15.

Also scoring for River was John Laughridge in 14^th place, Cayden Shorter in 24^th, Ryan Steger in 29^th and Silas Miller in 32^nd. There were a total of 73 boys in the race.

Floyd also won the girls regional title with Alleghany second and Nelson County third. Kiera Lowman of Alleghany had the best time at 18:32. River’s Georgia Miller, a freshman, was just two spots out of qualifying for state with a time of 21:55 for 17^th place among 56 girls. Also scoring for River were Madeline Rutledge, Anna Davidson and Jacmyn Rinehart in 43^rd through 45^th and Yazim Lopez-Capo in 52^nd place.

Lord Botetourt ran in the Region 3D meet at the Smith River Sports Complex in Martinsville last week, hosted by Bassett. The boys finished fourth, one spot away from qualifying for the state meet. Abingdon, Christiansburg and Cave Spring claimed the top three spots.

The boys individual winner in the Region 3D meet was Jack Bundy of Abingdon with a time of 15:56 and LB’s Carter Hudson was 10^th at 17:21 to earn All-Region honors. Carter qualified for the state along with teammate Cole Stelter, who was 16^th at 17:51. Also scoring for the Cavaliers were Tristan Marshall in 24^th, Landon Hayes in 45^th and Jacob Malue in 53^rd among 78 boys.

The LB girls were sixth as a team. Abingdon won the region title and also advancing to state were second place Christiansburg and third place Cave Spring, the same order as the boys race.

Makaleigh Jessee of Abingdon was in the individual champ in 18:45. LB’s top runner was Erin Dietrich, who took 12^th for All-Region honors and a berth in the state meet. Erin ran the race in 21:08.

Also scoring for LB were Hatlyn Haggerty in 23^rd place, Elizabeth Meadows in 41^st, Amelia Dietrich in 43^rd and Alexa Carillo in 47^th. There were 66 girls in the race.