By Brian Hoffman
Both the Salem and Glenvar cross country teams will be participating in the 18th Annual Knights Crossing Invitational at Green Hill Park in west Roanoke County this Saturday.
The event, which is ranked as the third best in the state by the popular runners’ website “MileStat,” will include runners from 94 high schools, 61 middle schools and eight elementary school. The race will include schools from Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The meet is scheduled for Green Hill Park, noted to be one of the faster courses in the state. Once again Green Hill Park will host the state Class 1, 2 and 3 state championships in November.
This Saturday races run from 8 am, beginning with the Joe LaRocco open 5 K, until the final unlimited Gold 5K with many different classes in between. The event is hosted by Cave Spring High and concessions will be available and t-shirts will be on sale for runners or spectators.
Both Salem and Glenvar kicked off the season last week by participating in big meets. The Spartans ran in the Viking Invitational at Northside High School and Salem senior Walker Peterson was the individual winner in 20:07, outrunning second place Lawson Mecom of Christiansburg by eight seconds. The Spartans finished fourth among eight teams as the Pacers Home School team won the team title with runners finishing fifth through eighth.
Also scoring for Salem were Carson Tucker in 23rd place, Alex Helems in 25th, Lance Toapanta in 38th and Hunter French in 40th place. There were 89 boys in the race.
In the JV race the boys’ team finished first and placed three runners in the top five spots. Nathan Bowers was the winner , Rick Rawlins placed second and Austin Prosser was fifth. Rounding out the scoring for the team were Luke Stoval and Grant Horner.
In the varsity girls’ race Salem had two runners, Elizabeth Bocock and Lyndsye Rothkopf. Bocock was 22nd and Lyndsye was 32nd among 59 runners. The Pacers Homeschool team had the first four girls across the line and easily won the team title.
Glenvar ran in the Highlander Invitational at Radford University last week. The Glenvar boys were third and the girls were sixth as Blacksburg swept the team titles.
In the boys’ race Glenvar’s Heath Bowker, Davis Norman and Caeden Bowker finished 13, 14 and 15 to lead the Highlanders. Charlie Horrell was 29th and Tyler Davis was 62nd to round out the Glenvar scoring among 120 runners. Blacksburg’s Conner Rutherford won the 5,000 meter race in 16:07 as the Bruins put eight of the top 10 across the line.
In the girls’ race Blacksburg dominated as well, taking the top four spots. Reese Bradbury was the winner in 19:15.
Glenvar’ first girl was Joanna Killeen in 35th place. Also scoring were Everly Shanks in 37th, Lauren Michael in 44th, Molly McCroskey in 45th and Anna Hall in 50th place. There were 89 girls in the race.
The Glenvar middle school boys finished second to Blacksburg as the Bruins swept that division as well. Glenvar did not have a full middle school team.