Gates runs to all-state honors at Green Hill Park

Lord Botetourt senior Evan Gates finished 14^th in the state Class 3 cross country meet Saturday to bring home all-state honors. The LB boys and girls teams and Michael Jorgensen of James River competed as Roanoke County’s Green Hill Park played host to the Class 1,2 and 3 state meets.

Gates finished with a time of 16:59.7 in the Class 3 boys meet. The top 15 runners were declared all-state as Isaac Thiessen, a senior from Abingdon, won the race in a time of 15:23.3.

Abingdon had four of the top seven runners, including the first two, to win the state championship with a score of 33. Maggie Walker Governor’s School was second at 86 and Lord Botetourt was eighth with 191 points. LB and Meridan tied for seventh but Meridan was declared the seventh place team by the tie-breaker, as their sixth runner was 10 spots ahead of LB’s sixth.

The top five runners scored in the meet. Cole Stelter was 43^rd overall for Botetourt, while Carter Hudson was 56^th, Rye Jackson was 62^nd and Aiden Dietrich was 79^th. Also running were Tristan Dodson in 95^th and Gage Hornback in 104^th.

Maggie Walker won the girls state championship with 72 points, followed by Warren County with 97 and Meridan with 117. Lord Botetourt finished 10^th.

LB’s first girl across the line was sophomore Ella Johnston in 21^st place at 20:06.7, and senior Sydney Vokus wasn’t far behind in 25^th at 20:16.3. The winning time was 18:30.1 by junior Ava Bordner of Skyline.

Also scoring for LB were Karley Burks in 73^rd, Molly Caldwell in 74^th and Katie Cross in 90^th place. Alexa Carillo was 93^rd and Hatlyn Haggerty was 96^th in the state.

James River had just one runner competing in the Class 2 races, senior Michael Jorgensen. He finished 66^th with a time of 19:10.1. The winning time was 16:20.8 by Daniel Zearfoss of Glenvar, a fellow member of the Three Rivers District with James River. Glenvar swept the individual titles as Carly Wilkes of the Highlanders won the girls race in 17:47.4.

Teamwise, the Clarke County girls and Union High boys won Class 2 team titles. In Class 1, for the state’s smallest schools, the George Wythe girls and Galileo High boys won team titles.