Boys Race Champion - Matthew Farmer (Rural Retreat) 16:30
Girls Race Champion - Mary Elliott (Radford) 21:07
Matthew Farmer of Rural Retreat was just edged out for the win at last year's Giles Invitational by Bland County's Josh Goodman with both runners timed at 16:35. Farmer was not going to allow the same result happen this year back at Giles High School as he pulled away from strong challengers in Parry McCluer's Sam Armstrong (2nd, 16:43) and Auburn's Jared Downing (3rd, 16:44) for a 16:30 victory.
The Galax boys struggled to get their fifth runner in as a 3:13 spread existed between their #1 and #5, but their top four was strong enough to overcome their depth fall off with 4 finishers among the top 15 places in Dustin Mathews (4th, 17:09), Cliff Conley (10th, 17:46), Daniel Hix (13th, 17:52), and Chandler Quesenberry (15th, 18:05). Galax finished with a total score of 94 points, which placed them 35 points ahead of Floyd County (129 pts). Floyd County had no runners among the top 20, but soon after the 20th finisher had a 29 second spread for their scoring 5 taking places ranging from 21st to 31st.
Only a freshmen, Radford's Mary Elliot won her first major invitational with a 21:07 clocking on the 3 mile course at Giles High School in Pearisburg. Elliot was 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Emma Wyatt, who led her Grayson County squad to the team title. The Grayson County girls (4s) were able to come out on top and ahead of Floyd County (2nd, 56 pts) and Carroll County (3rd, 64 pts) thanks to 4 girls breaking into the top 15 individually with Emma Wyatt (2nd, 21:17), Olivia Wyatt (4th, 21:39), Mary Beth Cunningham (11th, 22:41), and Natalie Ruiz (14th, 22:57).
Meet Results:
Photo Gallery by Colin Munsey
