The AAA Boys race was highly anticipated. Preston had held the top spot all year long, East Fairmont's pack running was a method that has been used by teams to win in previous years, and Cabell Midland had suddenly come to life in their conference and regional meets. In the end, Preston proved to be too strong, placing four runners on the All-State Team. Midland and East Fairmont staged a tight battle for 2nd, with Midland coming out on top by 6 points.

Over the first mile, the leaders set a blistering pace. Preston's Scott Gemberling, the pre-meet favorite, plowed through the opening mile in 4:37. Cabell Midland's Eric Cooper right on his heels at 4:38. Preston's Chad and Bryan Hooton were firmly in control of 3rd and 4th coming through around 4:47. Others near the front inluded Woodrow Wilson's Adam Hensley and University's Ryan Skotnicki. There were several other runners to go through the opening mile in under 5:00. The team race still looked pretty open. East Fairmont's pack was all pretty near the front and may well have led the team race at this point.

At the two mile mark, Scott Gemberling was all alone. He had opened a substantial gap on Eric Cooper. Gemberling came through in 9:46 with Cooper coming through in 10:04. Chad and Bryan Hooton had expanded their hold on 3rd and 4th, with Bryan now in front. They both came through in 10:17. The field was pretty close after that. I don't have enough notes to go further into detail. The team race was still not decided at this point. Preston had four up very high, but their 5th was back far enough to leave things in doubt.

At the finish, Gemberling had exanded his lead even further. His pace had slowed, but maintained well enough to finish in 15:50. Eric Cooper cruised in for 2nd place, finishing in 16:26. Chad and Bryan Hooton also held their positions, closing the gap slightly on Cooper finishing in 16:36 and 16:37. A tight battle to the finish for fifth ended with Ryan Skotnicki taking the spot in 16:49 and East Fairmont's Mathias Hickman just edging Preston's Eric Ryan for 6th. Both recorded times of 16:51. These were the only runners to go under 17:00. North Marion's Joseph Morris finished strong to claim 8th, and Parkersburg South's Curt Ruble just edged Cabell Midland's Sean Beckett for 9th as the two rounded out the All-State Squad.

Since the most hotly contested battle was Cabell Midland/East Fairmont battle, that's where we land in our search for the RunWV MVP. First we must applaud the effort of East Fairmont's Bryan Talerico. Battling through mono, Talerico still managed an 18th place finish and helped put East Fairmont in position to take home second place. However, the effort of a pair of Midland runners helped take the spot away from East. First, Sean Beckett. He climbed only five places from his predicted finish to his actual finish, but he did pick up 5 team points on the way, two of which were from East Fairmont, making them doubly important. Second, Nick Perry. We slated Perry to be Midland's #6 guy for this meet. He exceeded his predicted finishing position by 11 places and 9 team points. These two athletes paved the way for Cabell Midland to claim second place in the team race, and as a result, they are being awarded the RunWV MVP award.

How did RunWV do on our predictions? Only one team finished more than one spot away from where they were predicted. We correctly predicted the team champion. We knew East Fairmont and Midland would be close, and they were. Parkersburg South and Jefferson each moved up a place. University and Woodrow Wilson each moved up a place. Individually, only 7 of our top 10 earned All-State Honors. 13 of our top 15 finished in the top 15, and 22 of our top 25. The three who jumped up to claim All-State Honors were North Marion's Joseph Morris (predicted 17th, got 8th), Parkersburg South's Curt Ruble (predicted 11th, got 9th), and Cabell Midland's Sean Beckett (predicted 15th, got 10th). The three who climbed into the top 25 were East Fairmont's Bryan Talerico (predicted 26th, got 18th), Cabell Midland's Nick Perry (predicted 31st, got 20th), and Buckhannon-Upshur's Andrew Esquer (predicted 33rd, got 24th). The big mover of the day was Parkersburg's Sam Vincent who was predicted to finish 69th but pulled all the way up to 46th.

We offer our congratulations to the Preston boys. You sat atop the rankings all season long, and at the very end you began to have doubters. On Saturday you showed that Preston would not be denied its opportunity to bring home their first State Championship.

We offer our congratulations to Scott Gemberling. Like your team, you sat atop the rankings from start to finish. You were rarely even challenged in your races. You still have the possibility to make noise at Footlocker in North Carolina. We will be watching.

We offer our congratulations to the boys who shook up our predictions. You prove what we try to tell people all the time. Rankings and predictions do not dictate the race. You dictate the race.