The Botetourt Sports Complex at Greenfield will be the site of the annual Blue Ridge Invitational cross country meet this Saturday. A full day of action begins at 8 a.m.
At press time over 20 teams were signed up to compete over the Greenfield course. The course will open at 8 a.m. and there’s an Open 5K race that begins at 9:30 a.m. Next is a middle school girls’ 3K at 10:30 a.m., followed by a boys’ middle school race at 11:15 a.m.
The girls’ 5K varsity race begins at noon and the boys’ varsity race, also a 5K, is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. Jayvee races will also be 5K with the girls at 1:30 p.m. and the boys at 2:15 p.m.
“We are looking forward to hosting along with James River,” said Lord Botetourt coach Robert Sullivan. “This will be perhaps the largest field of teams running this year with 22-25 registered. Possibly the largest open 5K race, too, based on the level of interest.”
Teams are coming from far and wide. Among the schools entered are Mills Godwin of Henrico, Sherando High of Stephens City, Stuart Hall School of Staunton and many of the Roanoke area teams.
Both James River and LB warmed up for the big races with a trip to Low Moor last Saturday for the Alleghany Invitational. The Lord Botetourt girls won the varsity team title with a score of 34, topping second place Glenvar by 13 points.
Sydney Vokus of LB was third overall with a time of 19:57. Kensey May of Parry McCluer won the race in 18:53, followed by Glenvar’s Carly Wilkes at 19:25.
Also scoring for LB were Lauren Duff in sixth place, Gracie Barron in seventh, Sofia Hernandez in 10th and Katie Cross in 14th. James River did not have a team, but Abbagail Link was 12th overall as an individual.
In the boys race Lord Botetourt was fourth overall and River was fifth among eight schools competing. Christiansburg was the team winner.
Individually, Tyler Meade led LB with a 13th place finish in 17:36. The winning time was 15:57 by Dylan May of Parry McCluer. Evan Poff was 22nd for Botetourt, Alex Hawkins was 23rd and Andres Hernandez was 24th.
River’s top runner was Cole Miller in 15th place at 17:38. Camden Powell was 21st and Isaac Bell was 25th. Both had personal bests along with Sam Worsley, Nathan Etzler and Jacob Hill.
