The first James River Knights High School and Middle School Invitational was held at Gracely Hill at Beaver Dam Farm last Saturday with 15 teams participating. Beaver Dam Farm is the site for the annual Sunflower Festival.
“It’s a beautiful location with great sight lines for spectators,” said River coach Butch Lewis. “The runners ran through field of sunflowers, which unfortunately had been blown down from the recent bad weather due to Hurricane Helene.”
Turner Ashby won both the boys and girls team titles. In the boys race, Bassett took second and had the overall winner in Thomas Fulcher, who finished the 5K course in 16:59. James River was third, led by Aiden Bartulis. He was followed by teammates Braden Jones, Mark Voight and Tristian Capo-Lopez.
In the girls race, SW Virginia Academy was second to Turner Ashby and Bassett was third. Magdalena Lantz-Trussel of Turner Ashby won the race through the flowers with a time of 21:22.
For River, Jacey Walker had the best time followed by Jordyn Ives, Holly Weddle and Janiya Falls. Maddie Davidson of James River won the girls Middle School race while Jedidiah John of SW Virginia Academy was the boys Middle School champ.
“We plan on making this an annual affair,” said Lewis. “I’d like to thank Gracely Hill owner Candace Monaghan as well as our sponsors, Bank of Botetourt, James River Drip, Brent Hershey State Farm and Runabout Sports.”
