Cavaliers, Knights run in Alleghany Invitational, Lord Botetourt boys take first, girls are second

Both the Lord Botetourt and James River cross country teams competed in the eighth annual Alleghany Invitational last Saturday. The event was held at the Jackson River Sports Complex in Covington.

The Lord Botetourt boys won the meet with 71 points, outrunning second place Christiansburg by three points. Fort Defiance was third with 98 as 16 teams competed.

Evan Gates led the Cavaliers with a seventh place finish in a time of 16:53.04. The winning time was 16:14 by Ramsey Corbin of Fort Defiance.

Botetourt had four boys in the top 16. After Gates Carter Hudson was 11^th in 17:13.29, Rye Jackson was 13^th in 17:17.33 and Cole Stelter took 16^th in 17:27.89. Also scoring was Aiden Dietrich, who was 30^th among 120 runners.

Silas Miller was River’s top finisher in 56^th place. Nathan Etzler, Jacob Hill and Wyatt Race-Waller also ran for the Knights, who did not have a complete team.

In the girls varsity race the same three schools finished in the top three, but in a different order in a very close race. Fort Defiance won with 88 points, LB was second, one point back at 89, and Christiansburg took third with 91.

Botetourt girls finished one-two individually. Ella Johnston won the 5,000-meter race in a time of 19:12.97 and teammate Sydney Vokus was second in 19:29.21. Erna Dietrich also medaled with a 13^th place finish in 20:34.54 and also scoring were Karley Burks in 33^rd and Hatlyn Haggersty in 54^th place.  James River had just one runner, freshman Victoria Race-Waller, who finished 64^th among 98 finishers.

There were also jayvee and middle school races. Botetourt’s top finishers among the boys were Jonah Clark, who took seventh in the jayvee race, and Ethan Thorne, who was fourth in the middle school race. For the girls, LB’s Alexa Carillo was third in the jayvee race and Riley Wolford was 56^th in the middle school race.

This week the Cavaliers are scheduled to run at Franklin County on Tuesday and in the Cougar Clash in Pulaski County on Saturday. The Knights won’t be back in action until October 6 at the East Mont Invitational.