Green Hill Park in west Roanoke County will be the site of the annual Knights Crossing cross country event, conducted by Cave Spring High School. It’s a full day of racing and one of the largest events of the entire season.
This year’s Knights Crossing includes teams from 108 high schools, including Lord Botetourt and James River. Most of the schools are in Virginia but there are 15 teams coming from North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. There will also be over 60 middle schools represented.
“We are very excited about this year’s invitational,” said Cave Spring coach Tommy Maguire. “We have well over 3,000 runners entered to race. This will be our biggest Knights Crossing Invitational yet and one of the largest athletic events held in the Roanoke Valley this year.”
This year’s event looks to be one of the fastest fields in the 20 years of the Knights Crossing. According to the entries on the men’s side, 13 runners have broken 16 minutes for 5K and 70 under 17. On the women’s side, four runners have broken 18 minutes for 5K with 21 under 19 and 46 under 20.
The course will open at 7 a.m. Saturday with packet pick-up and Open Race registration. The first race is the Joe LaRocco 5K at 8 a.m. and races run through the final event at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule is as follows.
8:00 am Joe LaRocco (open) 5K Team Race for men and women
8:30 am Coaches Meeting at the stage
9:00 am Elementary School Championship 1K Race – (Boys/Girls)
9:15 am Open Race Awards
9:30 am Girls Middle School Championship 4K Race – (Medals to Top 25)
10:15 am Boys Middle School Championship 4K Race – (Medals to Top 25)
The “Red” race is for Virginia public schools and all out of state teams
10:45 am Girls Red Race 5K – (Medals to top 25)
11:30 am Boys Red Race 5K – (Medals to top 25)
The “Black” race is for all Virginia public and all private schools!
12:00 pm Girls Black Race 5K – (Medals to top 25)
12:45 pm Boys Black Race 5K – (Medals to top 25)
The “White” race is for Virginia public schools runners and all out of state teams not entered in the “Red” race!
1:15 pm Girls White Race 5k – unlimited
2:00 pm Boys White Race 5k – unlimited s
The “Gold” race is for all Virginia public and all private schools’ runners not entered in the “Black” race
2:30 pm Girls & Boys will race together in Gold Race 5k – unlimited.
Lord Botetourt and James River were scheduled to run in the “Bengal Clash” last Thursday at the Smith River Sports Complex in Martinsville, but that race was postponed due to extreme heat. It was rescheduled for Tuesday of this week, but results were too late for publication.
