Salem and Glenvar were represented in state cross country races last week as the fall distance season came to a close. State meets for all six Virginia High School League classifications were held at the Great Meadows horse farm in The Plains, VA on Friday and Saturday.
The Class 4, 5 and 6 meets, for both boys and girls, were held on Friday and Salem had one in each of the Class 4 races. Freshman Anna Pitts competed in the girls’ race and finished 65th with a time of 21:31. The winning time was 18:16 by Natalie Morris of Loudoun Valley, followed by Blacksburg’s Kaitlynn Wolfe and Ailene Edwards as the Bruins won the state team championship in their first year in Class 4.
In the boys’ meet Loudoun Valley put the first five runners across the line for a perfect score of 15, easily outdistancing Dominion with 103. Blacksburg was a point behind at 104.
Sam Affolder of Loudoun Valley was the individual champion with a time of 15:20. Salem’s Gavin Conner was 85th with a time of 18:11. He was one of just 13 freshmen to qualify for the state meet.
“He ran well for his first trip to the state meet,” said Salem coach Tom Roth. It was a chilly day and a course that was soft from rain.”
In Class 2 the Glenvar girls finished 11th as Maggie Walker won the state championship. The Highlanders were without one of their top runners, Rachel Millirons, who was sick and could not compete.
Glenvar’s top finished was freshman Becky Linkous who finished 43rd among 103 girls in the race with a time of 22:01. The winning time was 18:41 by Mary Caroline Heinen of Maggie Walker.
Senior Kailee Sesler finished 70th overall for the Highlanders and also scoring were Madison Osburn, Isabelle Pope and Alyssa Meadows. Dominga Ortega also competed for Glenvar.
Maggie Walker also won the boys’ Class 2 team championship and James River’s Will Miller repeated as the individual champ. Miller ran a time of 15:40 to win the race by 22 seconds over Oliver Wilson-Cook of Robert E. Lee of Staunton High. Will’s time was the fourth fastest out of all the runners in all six classifications and he improved his time on the Great Meadows course by 31 seconds after last year’s winning time of 16:11.
Glenvar was represented by senior Dustin Wade, who finished 59th. Dustin ran a time of 18:27 in his last cross country race as a Highlander.
