The largest high school cross country invitational in Southwest Virginia annually in the Knights Crossing Invitational will be held on Saturday, September 14th at Green Hill Park for the 10th annual edition of the event. This year's meet looks to be one of the largest ever with over 80 high schools and middle schools athlete totals in the two thousands range. Teams from other states include McCallie & Morristown West from Tennessee, George Washington & Greenbrier East from West Virginia, Broughton, Mount Tabor, & Walkertown from North Carolina, and Collins Hill & Darlington from Georgia.
Girls Preview:
Allie Klimkiewicz and the VA #2 ranked Oakton girls come all the way down to Roanoke from Northern Virginia to compete against Bonnie Angermeier and the VA #1 ranked Blacksburg girls in matchup between two state title favorites in their respective classifications. Both squads are coming off dominant season opening victories last weekend as Blacksburg girls averaged 19:33 for their top 5 at the Blue Demon Invite, while Oakton posted a 19:29 average at the Great Meadow Invite. The Morristown West girls of Tennessee also figures to be in the mix with Blacksburg and Oakton squads as they return 3 girls who ran right at or just under 19 minutes last fall for 5K in Chantal Wilson (18:39), Mackenzie Jones (18:46), and Cherie Wilson (19:01).
There will be a total of four girls in the race who broke 18 minutes last fall for 5K led by returning Foot Locker finalist Allie Klimkiewicz of Oakton, sub 4:50 miler Katie Fortner of Cave Spring, and two North Carolina girls in Broughton's Megan Sullivan and Kayla Montgomery. Sullivan was a North Carolina 4A state champion in cross country (17:48 5K PR) and 800 meters outdoors (2:10 PR), while Montgomery nearly broke 18 minutes to start this season when she won the Providence Invitational in late August with a 18:04 clocking.
Blacksburg junior Bonnie Angermeier is the next highest ranked Virginian in the field after #3 ranked Klimkiewicz as her 18:53 course record performance last weekend at the Blue Demon Invite elevated to a #6 recent state ranking. Meanwhile, Katie Fortner of Cave Spring is looking to bounce back from a disappointing season openr loss at the Blue Demon Invite to Angermeier and fourth place finish and compete for the Knights Crossing title in one of her last races on her schools home course. Fortner and Angermeier should be a great rivalry this fall in the 3A classification after Fortner had so many past great races against graduated Hidden Valley runner Carolyn Bethel in previous seasons.
Boys Preview:
The out-of-staters could sweep the individual and team titles for boys at the 2013 Knights Crossing. Broughton and Mount Tabor are both very formidable squads coming out of North Carolina, while McCallie School returns their entire top 5 from a 2012 state champion squad in Tennessee. Broughton brings back the fastest returning team from the state of North Carolina and one of the best in the entire Southeast with four sub 16 minute 5K runners in William Roberson (15:22), John Dalton Rohr (15:40), Jeremy Brown (15:46), and Asher Smith-Rose (15:50). The Mount Tabor boys started their cross country season on fire in winning the Providence Invitational at McAlpine Greenway Park in Charlotte with a stout #1 runner in winner Ian Milder at 15:09 and a remaining top five ranging from times of 16:10 to 16:49.
The flag bearers for the state of Virginia in the team battle will be VA #5 ranked Oakton and VA #6 ranked Blacksburg. The Oakton boys swept the team titles alongside their female counterparts at Great Meadow last weekend with a 16:47 team average led by sub 4:20 miler John Stoney in fourth place at 16:03. Meanwhile, the Blacksburg boys made easy work of the competition at the Blue Demon Invite with three of the top four finishers in Noah Combs, Kenneth Hagen, and Michael Carter as Combs won the event by nearly 30 seconds with a 16:22 effort.
Quite a few star runners will be showcased on the Green Hill Park 5K course on Saturday morning with many of the leaders from outside of the state of Virginia. Mount Tabor's Ian Milder was already mentioned having run a blazing early season time on the home course for the Foot Locker South Region under 15:10. The best runner arguably from the state of West Virginia in George Washington's Matthew Bradford will also be racing at Knights Crossing. Bradford ended his outdoor season clocking a new 5K PR of 15:07 at the New Balance Nationals and also ran 9:17 in the 3200 during the spring.
The most accomplished cross country in the field is 2012 Foot Locker All-American in Quintin McKinnish of Morristown-West (TN). McKinnish finished 13th in last year's Foot Locker National race in San Diego after running his 5K PR of 15:00 at the South Regional in Charlotte to qualify. After missing virtually all of his track season, the returning cross country All-American has started off slow in his cross country season with a 3rd place finish at the Western North Carolina XC Carnival last month and 16:10 5K performance. He should be further along his comeback road to top form several weeks removed from that race.
Top Virginian individuals in the race will be VA #8 Combs of Blacksburg, VA #12 Stoney of Oakton, and Group A state outdoor 3200 meter champ Brad Swiney. Swiney has kicked off his junior year with two invitational wins at Run Fer Da Hills and Lebanon following an end to his sophomore year with a 9:38 state outdoor 3200 victory.
Virtual Meet Previews
High School Girls:
This Season | Last Season
High School Boys:
This Season | Last Season
Knights Crossing Invitational meet page with more information
Course Map:
Subscribe & check out MileStat.com's full coverage after the meet for complete results, race videos, interviews, and photo galleries from the Knights Crossing Invite!
