Battling rain and a hilly home course, both the Rockbridge County High School boys and girls cross country teams won their lone home meet of the season on Wednesday evening at Natural Bridge State Park.
Facing three Shenandoah District rivals, the RC boys had a perfect score of 15 points, with the Wildcats, last year’s Shenandoah District champions and Region 3C and Class 3 state runners-up, sweeping the top six spots as their home fans cheered them on. The six leading Wildcats ran together for most of the race before senior Tyler Ludtke broke away with about a mile to go and won the 5-kilometer race in 17 minutes, 50 seconds. Senior teammate Lincoln Steele placed second of 42 harriers, and RC senior Sammy Eastwood finished third in 18:00.4.
Rounding out the top six were RC juniors Leif Guse (fourth, 18:05.3), Luke Eichholz (fifth, 18:05.6) and Grant Swenty (sixth, 18:06). Stuarts Draft junior Easton Nice was the only non-Wildcat in the top 10, placing seventh in 19:01.4. The Wildcats’ seventh runner was freshman Bede Eichholz (eighth, 19:08.5).
In the boys’ team standings, Stuarts Draft placed second with 72 points, Staunton (75) finished third, and Buffalo Gap (79) came in fourth.
The boys and girls raced at the same time due to the rain. Runners from Staunton and Buffalo Gap competed, but only RC and Stuarts Draft had the minimum number of runners, five, to record team scores. With three harriers in the top five, the Wildcats won with 19 points, while Draft placed second with 36.
RC sophomore Reagan Imler finished ahead of most of the boys, winning the race comfortably in 22:00.5, while Buffalo Gap senior Reagan Gwaltney placed second of 17 runners in 22:47.1, and Staunton junior Holly Kahn finished third in 23:59.1.
The RC girls’ second runner was freshman Isabel Tubb, placing fourth in 24:08.9, while senior teammate Hannah Ivins finished fifth in 25:36.2. RC’s final two harriers were junior Audra Roney (11th, 28:49.1) and freshman Elizabeth Margalus (12th, 28:50.3).
Before the race, the Wildcats honored their six seniors: Ivins and boys Eastwood, Ludtke, Steele and Oscar McClung.
The Wildcats will face district rivals again next Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 5 p.m. at Stuarts Draft.
For the story and photos from the home meet, with comments from RC head coach Julie Tisone and the top Wildcat runners, please see our Sept. 30 newspaper.
