Sherando High School was the big winner as Lord Botetourt and James River played host to the annual Blue Ridge Invitational cross country meet at the Greenfield Sports Complex in Daleville Saturday. There were 24 schools competing on a perfect day for running in Botetourt County.
Sherando High, a Class 4 school from Stephens City, swept the varsity team titles. In the boys race, Sherando scored 51 points and had the individual winner in James Harris, who covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:44.
Lord Botetourt was second overall as a team with 77 points. The Cavaliers’ top runner was freshman Tyler Meade, who was seventh at 17:54. Also scoring were Andres Hernandez in 16th, Evan Poff in 20th, Cole Stelter in 22nd and Evan Gates in 29th place.
James River did not have a complete team due to injuries and sickness. Cole Miller had River’s best finish at 18:02, good for 11th place. Camden Powell was 15th and Isaac Bell was 35th among 98 runners in the race.
Sherando and LB also finished one-two in the girls’ race, with the Warriors outscoring the Cavaliers 42-56. The winning time was 19:47 by Jessie Zealand of the Pacers Home School team.
LB’s Sydney Vokus, a sophomore, was second overall with a time of 20:28. Sofia Hernandez was sixth at 21:08 and also scoring were Gracie Barron in 11th, Lauren Duff in 18th place and Katie Cross in 21st. There were 75 girls in the varsity race.
James River’s best finish was freshman Kaylee Cox, who finished 48th. River’s Abbagail Link missed the varsity race as she was taking SAT exams but she was able to make it to Greenfield in time to run in the jayvee race and won that event with a time of 22:17.
Lord Botetourt’s Alex Hawkins won the boys’ jayvee race in 19:13. Sherando also won both jayvee team titles while Blacksburg swept the boys’ and girls’ middle school races.
“The meet was a big success,” said James River coach Butch Linkous.
The Knights are now off until the Metro Cross Country meet in Blacksburg on October 23. The Cavaliers will also run in the Metro, but in the meantime they’ll be in Bristol next Wednesday, October 16, for the Region 3D course preview meet.
