Green Hill Park was buzzing Saturday morning as runners of all ages pounded the cross country course from early morning until late afternoon for the annual Knights Crossing event. Salem and Glenvar were both well-represented.
The Salem High girls finished 21st in “Red” 5k race, which included 38 schools and 241 runners in the highest division of competition. The Red division included all the largest schools from the area as well as several surrounding states. Blacksburg was the team winner.
Salem had a very tight pack of girls in the top five with only 46 seconds separating first through fifth on the team. Scorers included Alyssa Ingerson (21:52), Emma Chamberland (22:20), Anna Pitts (22:22), Claire Peterson (22:29), and Alexis Stover (22:38).
“All the Salem runners improved their times by anywhere from 40 seconds to over a minute from last week’s Christiansburg meet,” noted coach Mark Ingerson.
In the Middle School 3k race, Salem ran five 8th graders from Andrew Lewis. The team finished 10th among nearly 30 teams.
Katelyn Crumpacker led the way, placing 17th in a field of 303 runners and winning a top 25 medal. Zoe Prosser (13:35), Emily Johnson (13:36), Bella Ferrate (13:59) and Larkin Perler (15:27) rounded out the scoring for the Andrew Lewis team.
The boys’ team ran in two different varsity races. In the Red division Salem was 31st, led by Gaven Conner with a time of 18:14 for a 5k. Following him were Aiden Sable, Kirill Daniel, Elijah Hairston and Tommy Cascell. Milton High School won the boys’ Red Division.
In the “Black” varsity race, which included smaller schools, Salem’s first runner was Nathan Helems. Also running were Walker Chambers, Benji Ashwell, Zach Davidson, Owen Halverson and Ben Roland.
In the middle school race Tom Henzey, an 8th grader at Andrew Lewis, placed 36th out of 371 runners.
Glenvar ran in the Black Divison and the girls finished third among 17 teams behind Wilson Memorial and Hidden Valley’s second team. Rachel Millirons was second overall with a time of 20:31.80. Becky Linkous was 11th at 21:30.80 and Kailee Sesler was 14th in 21:35.20. Also running were Isabelle Pope, Madison Osburn, Ashley Zaronsky and Alyssa Meadows.
The Glenvar boys were 19th, as Wilson Memorial won the boys’ “Black” division. Dustin Wade led Glenvar with a time of 17:48.20, good for 14th place. Also running were Brendan Killeen, Adren Jacobs, Chris Herington, Robbie Dascenzo, Carsen Cain and Scott Wells.
Carly Wilkes, an eighth grader at Glenvar Middle School, won the White Race for jayvee runners with a time o 19:30.70.
Salem and Glenvar are both scheduled to run at Galax next Wednesday, September 20.
