Rockets run with bigger schools
The Craig County girls finished 14th among the 16 teams who qualified for the state meet at Great Meadow near Warrenton at the state cross country meet on November 14.
Craig coach Kim Kniseley doesn’t see this as “third last.”
“I choose to think of it in terms of the nearly 95 group A high schools in Virginia, which all but a half dozen or so have twice the enrollment, or in many cases more, than Craig County,” he said. “Only 13 of those 95 could field a girls’ team better than the Rockets.”
This was just the second time Craig sent a girls team to the state meet, although three girls have qualified individually, and two of them have done so twice.
“It was especially great to see Kevin Crenshaw, a CCHS alumni and former cross country runner for a district championship team for the Rockets, drive down from George Mason University to support the Rockets and take some pictures for us,” said Kniseley. “Kevin’s parents are veteran teachers for Craig Co.”
Heavy rain in the days before the race made the course wet and muddy, though it has been worse in some past meets.
There were 126 girls who qualified for the meet and finished the race.
The group A girls race was won by Katlyn Ayres, a sophomore from Strasburg, in 19:03 on the winding 3.1 mile course. The team title went to George Mason with 62 points and the runner up was Strasburg with 94 points. Radford High was third with 97 points.
The Rockets were led by Brianna Swartwout, who finished 62nd overall in 23:38. Jessica Stebar was 75th in 24:20 while Kora White was 91st in 25:31. Alyssa Armes ran 26:20 for 103rd and Danielle Rock again rounded out the team scoring in 26:43 for 110th place.
Jennifer Martin ran 27:46 for 114th and Jodee Martin clocked 27:53 for 115th.
“I really was proud of our girls, they represented us well, behaved great throughout the trip, and hopfully made some memories for a lifetime,” said Kniseley.
Tell Alyssa i said way to go hope to hear from her