Green Hill Park in the Glenvar area of Roanoke County 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. William Byrd runners were well represented at the big meet.
Byrd runners ran in the “Red” Division, for larger schools and out of state teams. The Byrd girls were 17th among 31 schools in the Red Division and the boys were 27th among 33. There were 249 girls competing in the Red Division and 284 boys. Team winners were the Blacksburg girls and Milton High boys.
Overall there were well over 100 schools represented, along with elementary and open divisions. Teams came to southwest Virginia from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia for this meet.
“Once again the staff at Cave Spring put on a great meet,” said Byrd coach Eric Royal. “The course was fast and the competition was really good, giving our runners plenty to compete against.”
Byrd had 19 personal best times run on Saturday at Green Hill Park. Erin Wienke led the way for the Lady Terriers and close on her heels was Kayland Bond. Julia Burek had a personal best, and rounding out the top five scorers were Evie Laherty and Brynn Tardy. Other notable finishers included Tabitha Beecher, Natalia Ferguson and Hailey Ramsey, all running over two minutes faster than the week before.
The varsity race saw Ashton Ashley set a new personal best. Cam Dalton ran the whole race with his shoe falling off when it got stepped on about 500 meters into the race, but he also ran his best time by over 30 seconds. Luke Johnston, Greyson Cornett and Jayden Glass also scored for the boys.
Other highlights from the meet saw Kollin Slusher run a good time, breaking 20 minutes, and Ryan Krawczyk just missed breaking 20 minutes.
“Both these guys are freshman and they are part of a pretty talented group of underclassmen that have me excited about where the program is and where it is going,” said Royal. “The hard work is starting to show in our times. We have put the work in and will continue to push each other at practice.”