Two James River boys and one girl qualified for the Class 2 state cross country meet scheduled for this Saturday at Green Hill Park in west Roanoke County. Braden Jones finished 11th in the Region 2C meet at Greenfield Recreation Park in Daleville last week and Mark Voight was 13th. River’s Maddie Davidson was seventh.
Teamwise, the Knights barely missed advancing. The top three teams advanced and the River boys were fourth behind Glenvar, Floyd County and Patrick County. The girls were sixth but just nine points behind third place Appomattox. Floyd County won the girls’ region championship and Radford was second.
Jones and Voight, both juniors, qualified for the state meet as individuals. Braden ran a time of 18:19 and Mark came in at 18:28. The winning time was 17:23 by Aldin Smith of Glenvar.
File photos
In the girls’ meet Annike Beegle won the race in 20:06. Davidson, a freshman, finished in 21:27 for the Knights. River’s next best was freshman Maren Pauley who just missed All-Region honors by one spot with a 16th place finish and was just two spots away from advancing to the state meet.
“I am so proud of how hard our runners fought for a position at states,” said River coach Daphne Davidson. “This has been a great season and our team ran with so much heart. They have become a very close and supportive team, with many of them attending the state meet to encourage their teammates.”
This Saturday at Green Hill Park the Class 2 girls are scheduled to run at 11:45 a.m. with the boys to follow at 12:30 p.m.
