Lord Botetourt and James River combined to play host to the annual Blue Ridge Invitational cross country races at the 5K Greenfield Recreation Park course in Daleville last Saturday.
The Glenvar girls and Battlefield High boys won varsity team championships on a beautiful Botetourt County day.
There were 19 teams competing in the meet this year. All proceeds went to the Lord Botetourt and James River cross country programs.
“It was a great meet and from the comments I heard everyone had a good time,” said LB coach Robert Sullivan. “The weather turned out to be great and everything went as planned. We had some athletes missing due to soccer and taking their SAT, so others had a chance to step up. Lord Botetourt athletes gave great effort and we were happy about that. We still have work to do as we progress towards the post season.”
The Lord Botetourt girls took third in the varsity race, trailing only Glenvar and Battlefield. Freshman Sydney Vokus led the Cavaliers with a fourth place finish in a time of 21:18, earning a medal. Carly Wilkes of Glenvar, another freshman, was the winner with a time of 19:30, over a minute faster than teammate Rachel Millirons.
Also scoring for the Cavaliers were Lauren Duff, who medaled with a 13th place finish, and three Cavs who came in 19th, 20th and 21st, Sofia Hernandez, Katie Cross and Brielle Jackson.
The James River girls were seventh as a team, led by 12th place Katelyn Wiley, who also earned a medal. Abbagail Link was 16th and also scoring for the Knights were Catherine Amos in 39th, Tessa Jones at 43rd and Meaghan Hix in 52nd place.
In the boys race James River was fourth and LB took fifth behind champion Battlefield, Floyd County and Patrick Henry. LB’s Bryson Cook had the best time among the Botetourt County runners at 18:20 for fourth place and a medal. Bryson was 38 seconds behind winner Jack Wagner of Battlefield, who negotiated the Greenfield course in 17:42.
Also scoring for LB were Evan Gates in 11th, Alex Hawkins in 32nd, Zach Andrews in 34th and Tristan Robinson in 48th place.
River had two boys earn medals, as Camden Powell was eighth in 18:57 and Cole Miller was ninth in 19:03. Also scoring for the Knights were Jack Butler in 25th, Isaac Bell in 26th and Nathan Etzler in 51st.
There were also jayvee and middle school races. The LB girls were first in the jayvee 5000-meter run and Anthony Etzler of James River was the individual winner in the boys jayvee race.
LB will run in the MileStat Invitational in Richmond this Saturday, and both county schools are entered in the Metro Cross Country race in Blacksburg next Wednesday, Oct. 17.
