By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Area cross-country teams dominated region competition Wednesday with Blacksburg High School doubling down on both the boys’ and girls’ titles in Region 4D. Alistair Bushey set a new course record at Randolph Park with a mark of 15:54 to lead BHS. Landon Dinkel was second, and Ben Schmidt was eighth.
The Blacksburg girls placed four runners in the top five with Kaitlynn Wolfe in second place. Audrey Ling, Annika Griggs and Mari Garza gave the Bruins a 3-4-5 finish.
Meanwhile in Region 3D, Ethan Wilson raced to the individual title as Christiansburg claimed the boys’ team title and were runners-up in the girls’ competition.
The Blue Demon boys tallied 43 points to second place Lord Botetourt’s 91 points. Hidden Valley was third with 94 points. Trey Wilson finished in eighth place for CHS with Lawson Mecom, Caleb Hatcher and Davis Farmer in tow as Christiansburg had five runners in the top 12 spots.
Over in the girls’ competition, Christiansburg finished second to Hidden Valley with McKenna Spaulding taking tenth place as the top Blue Demon finisher.
In Region 1D, Auburn High School finished third in the boys’ competition and second in the girls’ 5K course in Blacksburg.
Adam Downs’ eighth-place finish made him the top runner for the Auburn boys, and Andy Vaughn was tenth. On the girls’ side of the course, Anna Kuchan brought home a third-place finish for Auburn with teammates Lilly Mesner and Morgan Rosebaum in fifth and sixth place respectively.
In Region 2C, Radford finished first in the girls’ competition and second on the boys’ side.
The Radford girls outdistanced Glenvar 36 to 52 for the team title. Floyd finished third. The Radford boys fell to Alleghany in a thriller 73 to 77. William Hartig was the top boys runner for the Bobcats with a fourth-place finish.
Radford’s Emma Hastings-Crummey was fourth for the Lady Cats with Aby Barnes sixth, Anneliese Stewart seventh and Angie Linn eighth.
