SALEM, Va. — Have a day, Josie Jackson.
The Abingdon middle-distance specialist started off her senior cross country season in record style at Saturday’s 20th Knights Crossing Invitational on the lightning-quick Green Hill Park with ideal conditions.
Jackson covered the 5-kilometer trek in a school record time of 17:53.1 to finish third in the red division, breaking the previous mark by 20-time all-state performer Makaleigh Jessee from 2022 by five seconds. Jackson led the Lady Falcons to a fourth-place finish with 208 points and a team average of 19:54.0.
“My goal was to move up in placement first, but I thought if I moved up in placement then that would improve my time,” Jackson said. “I was working as hard as I could and told myself not to look down.”
Jackson is just the fifth girl from Southwest Virginia to break 18 minutes on a cross country 5K course, joining Virginia High’s Maria Large, Elizabeth Hester, Kelsey Harrington and the aforementioned Jessee.
Not surprising considering Jackson’s lineage and connection to the program as her mother — Zoe Johnston — and two aunts — Kirstie and Sophie — were part of the Abingdon dynasty in the late 1980s with a Group AA state title in 1988.
“With Makaleigh being one of my best friends and one of my favorite teammates that I’ve ever had, it means a lot to follow in her footsteps,” Jackson said. “For the rest of the season, I hope to just keep improving my times and the bar has definitely been set high in the first race.”
Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons’ Hannah Rae Schaffer repeated as the individual champion in the red division, hawking down defending VHSL Class 3 champion Kiera Lowman of Alleghany to win at the line by a half-second.
Schaffer led her squad to a second straight team title, racking up 43 points with a team average of 18:22 and a 1-to-5 spread of 75 seconds.
The Lady Falcons got a standout effort from freshman Johnson City transfer Avery Whitson, who made a smashing debut in 18:48.4 to finish 15th.
“I’m really proud of (Whitson) because that was her first cross country 5K and she did so well,” Jackson said. “She’s been working so hard and I’m glad she’s on the team.”
Elaina Bakker (41st, 20:00.9), Aleah Dorn (70th, 21:01.0), and Clara Bakker (109th, 21:49.5) rounded out the scoring for Abingdon.
The top Northeast Tennessee finisher was David Crockett’s Maggie Bellamy, who ran a personal-best of 18:50.0 and finished 16th. Crockett was 28th as a team (738 points) while Dobyns-Bennett finished 10th and had 345 points.
Tiesha Turner led the way for the Lady Indians, running 21:03.4 and nabbing 71st.
Tazewell’s Abigail Rhudy started off her season strong by finishing 31st and clocking 19:26.1.
POISSON NABS SECOND
Fellow Abingdon senior Gregory Poisson put himself in the race, but just didn’t have enough turnover late to catch Broadway’s Tristan Yoder in the dying stages of the boys race.
Yoder won the race, clocking 15:22.4 while Poisson was four seconds back (15:26.8) and nabbed the silver medal. It was his first race of the season and a personal best by six seconds. The Falcons finished 15th with 517 points.
“It was good and it was definitely a rust-buster,” Poisson said. “It was a PR, so no complaints there. I felt really strong and I put myself in it and competed. That’s the theme of the season is to compete and the times will come with it.
“I made a big move with like a half-mile to go and it was strong, but it was a little early. I need to work on closing speed.”
What was probably the biggest story for Abingdon coming out of the race was the tremendous improvement by Dobyns-Bennett junior transfer Eamon Ailshie, who dropped nearly two minutes off his previous best time to run 16:26.6 to finish 35th.
Ailshie’s previous school finished one spot behind Abingdon in the team standings.
“Eamon is doing great, man, and I’m honestly so glad we have him,” Poisson said. “He’s fitting right in with the guys and hasn't had any problems. I love him to death, even though we’re wired almost exactly the opposite. He can’t run a mile without gasping, but he can run the last 400 of a workout in under 60 (seconds) no problem.
“He’s going to end up being great for the other guys because he’ll close the gap and help push everyone else forward. I knew he was going to run really fast today.”
Luke Gibson (104th, 17:27.0), Parley Staton (208th, 18:34.2) and Henry Pillion (209th, 18:34.3) rounded out the scoring for Abingdon.
Blacksburg won a third straight team title with 74 points, nearly 100 ahead of runner-up Cardinal Gibbons.
BLACK DIVISION NOTABLES
In the black division for smaller schools, George Wythe racked up as Emma Faulkner led the Lady Maroons with a fifth-place finish of 19:32.9. George Wythe finished 12th with 308 points.
On the boys side, Lee High’s Eli Penix (14th, 17:33.9) and John Carter (15th, 17:34.3) led the way for the Generals, who were runner-up to Charlotte Latin with 99 points. Elijah Stafford (17th, 17:37.9) also had a solid showing for Lee High.
Eastside’s Caleb Ghammashi (22nd, 17:48.5) and Union’s Landon Spain (23rd, 17:50.2) also had solid showings.
20th Knights Crossing Invitational
Green Hill Park - Salem, VA
Saturday, September 7, 2024
GIRLS
Course Record: Kelsey Harrington, Virginia High (16:55.1 in 2019)
Meet Record: Kelsey Harrington, Virginia High (17:13.5 in 2019)
Red Division Top 10 Team Results -- 1 Cardinal Gibbons (NC) 43, 2 Blacksburg 97, 3 Spotswood 137, 4 Abingdon 208, 5 Riverbend 215, 6 Oakton 218, 7 Loudoun Valley 236, 8 Christiansburg 241, 9 Greenbrier East (WV) 336, 10 Dobyns-Bennett (TN) 345.
Red Division Top 15 Individual Finishers -- 1 Hannah Rae Schaffer (CG) 17:50.6, 2 Kiera Lowman (Alleg) 17:51.1, 3 Josie Jackson (Ab) 17:53.1, 4 Kaitlyn Estep (CG) 17:56.4, 5 Ashland Dickel (SW) 18:12.3, 6 Marika Dickel (SW) 18:12.3, 7 Addy Mitchell (CG) 18:18.2, 8 Neena McClintic (GE) 18:27.0, 9 Ruby Frazier (FluCo) 18:35.1, 10 Tess Dickhans (Bburg) 18:41.0, 11 Caroline Sapperstein (Oak) 18:42.1, 12 Maggie Whitham (CG) 18:42.5, 13 Brooke Saunders (Hburg) 18:44.9, 14 Anna Amato (FluCo) 18:47.22, 15 Avery Whitson (Ab) 18:48.4.
Black Division Top 10 Team Results -- 1 Charlotte Latin (NC) 33, 2 Hanover 100, 3 Waynesboro 115, 4 Wilson Memorial 136, 5 Fort Defiance 191, 6 Jefferson Christian 266, 7 Christian Heritage Academy 268, 8 Monticello 271, 9 Roanoke Catholic School 286, 10 Auburn 293.
Black Division Top 15 Individual Finishers --1 Kerrigan Chaney (NC) 18:28.5, 2 Bridget Yu (Latin) 18:39.4, 3 Violet Wall (JCA) 18:55.0, 4 Macy Rowe (Wboro) 19:15.2, 5 Emma Faulkner (GW) 19:32.2, 6 Lydia Miller (Hanover) 19:32.9, 7 Grace Short (Latin) 19:39.1, 8 Kaitlyn Perkins (NC) 19:48.0, 9 Claire Mayberry (Latin) 19:58.8, 10 Maggie Klingman (Latin) 20:08.4, 11 Georgia Babish (GCA) 20:12.5, 12 Emma Shirey (JCA) 20:47.8, 13 Annabella Saunders (WM) 20:56.8, 14 Amelia DiRoma (Latin) 21:01.0, 15 Lydia Kimmell (Wboro) 21:04.5.
BOYS
Course Record: Bazil Mathes, Monticello (14:51.9 in 2023)
Meet Record Bazil Mathes, Monticello (15:04.3 in 2023)
Red Division Top 10 Team Results -- 1 Blacksburg 74, 2 Cardinal Gibbons (NC) 170, 3 Hanover 178, 4 Riverbend 211, 5 Parry McCluer 256, 6 Broadway 260, 7 Loudoun Valley 263, 8 Jefferson (WV) 310, 9 Hidden Valley 358, 10 Eastern Montgomery 398.
Red Division Top 15 Individual Finishers -- 1 Tristan Yoder (Bway) 15:22.4, 2 Gregory Poisson (Ab) 15:26.8, 3 Justin Rau (Riverbend) 15:36.2, 4 Eric Duncan (LB) 15:38.1, 5 Tyler Arnold (Riverbend) 15:40.1, 6 Ethan Thorne (LB) 15:43.5, 7 Kebryl Chandler (PM) 15:44.5, 8 Asher Roach (Bburg) 15:51.9, 10 Ryan Bagchi (Bburg) 15:53.4, 11 Conner Myers (Jefferson) 15:53.8, 12 Alex Featherly (SouthCo) 16:01.2, 13 Macon Smith (JF) 16:02.7, 14 Miles Wilson (Bburg) 16:02.9, 15 Ben Chandler (Hanover) 16:03.7.
Black Division Top 10 Team Results -- 1 Charlotte Latin (NC) 49, 2 Lee High 99, 3 North Cross 142, 4 Eastern Mennonite School 166, 5 Wilson Memorial 167, 6 Rustburg 198, 7 Galileo Magnet 217, 8 Alleghany 226, 9 Bassett 243, 10 Fort Defiance 314.
Black Division Top 15 Individual Finishers -- 1 Shane Stevens (Alta) 15:52.2, 2 Spencer Britton (NC) 16:29.0, 3 Parker Blosser (FD) 17:02.6, 4 Ethan Khouri (Latin) 17:04.6, 5 Erik Anglemyer (Latin) 17:05.1, 6 Henry Anglemyer (Latin) 17:06.4, 7 Chase Arrington (Hargrave) 17:11.2, 8 Fenton Chaney (NC) 17:12.8, 9 Barak Tahirkhali (Galileo) 17:21.7, 10 Lucas Ripley (Rburg) 17:22.7, 11 Daniel Roman (Galileo) 17:25.5, 12 Maddox Wickline (Alleg) 17:27.77, 13 Tyress Wiltz (Bass) 14 Eli Penix (Lee) 17:33.9, 15 John Carter (Lee) 17:34.3.
