Fairmont Senior came into the race as a surprisingly heavy favorite by our predictions. While the outcome was much closer than anticipated, the Polar Bears were able to claim the title. The fact that they did not have their best day shows just how far ahead of the field Fairmont Senior actually was by the end of the season. Morgantown had a strong outing to jump up and take 2nd and the girls from Preston grabbed 3rd place with a solid effort.

As always at Mineral Wells, our first checkpoint is at the mile mark. At the mile, Preston's Amber Riley held a slight edge on Morgantown's Claire Berryman and Ahna Lewis. Riley came through in 5:41, Berryman 5:42, and Lewis 5:43. The pack was very tight following that group.

Our next checkpoint was at the two mile mark. Berryman and Riley were still running stride for stride, coming through in 12:07. Ahna Lewis had fallen back just a bit, coming through in 12:15. This group was well ahead of everyone else. Elkins' Heather Saffel had a pretty solid grasp on 4th, coming through in 12:40. Again, the pack was much tighter after that, with many girls in line for a possible All-State position.

Over the last mile, Claire Berryman pulled away for a 10 second victory over teammate Ahna Lewis. Berryman finished in 19:15 with Lewis coming in at 19:25. Amber Riley's outstanding first two miles let her hang onto third place with ease, crossing in 19:47. Heather Saffel ran all alone for the last mile in holding fourth. Greenbrier East's Aleacha McClintic used a strong finishing kick to nip Ripley's Alison Spiker for 5th. Places 7 through 10 were decided in the home stretch with Fairmont Senior's Krystal Hardway nipping Nicholas' Hannah Henderson, who nipped Huntington's Molly Stevens, who nipped Parkersburg's Diane Kenaston. Those young ladies comprised the All-State Squad. Each was under 20:45 while the only other girl to go under 21:00 was East Fairmont's Rebecca Fulaytar who ran 20:59.

The scores didn't really settle out to have a clear-cut RunWV MVP. Clearly, there was only one team that truly outdid itself, and they did it from top to bottom, which makes it hard to single out one in particular. So, we're going to cop out and award co-MVP's. Each of Jefferson's 7 girls placed higher than expected, but two were more noticeable than the others. First, Whitney Blume. Her leap from predicted to finish to actual finish was only 9 places, but it came in a more difficult area to accomplish, being further up in the field. A larger factor is that each of the 9 places she moved up was a team score place. The co-winner is Michelle Hense. She finished 17 positions higher than her predicted place, the biggest jump for Jefferson. She also picked up 16 team places. These two ladies were instrumental in Jefferson's rise from 7th to 5th (and nearly 4th) in the State Meet.

How did RunWV do on our predictions? The top 4 were the top 4, though Elkins dropped two spots. Five through seven were five through seven, though Jefferson moved up two spots. Eight through eleven fell exactly as expected. So, really, we were only off base on two teams. Individually, 8 of our top 10 finished in the top 10 (one of these either didn't run or dropped out), 11 of the top 15 finished in the top 15, and 20 of our top 25 finished in the top 25. We offer our congratulations to those girls who stepped up and grabbed those All-State Spots. They were Fairmont Senior's Krystal Hardway (predicted 12th, finished 7th) and Nicholas' Hannah Henderson (predicted 11th, finished 8th). We also congratulate the 5 girls who slipped into the top 25. They are Hedgesville's Brittany Thomas (predicted 29th, got 14th), Jefferson's Whitney Blume (predicted 28th, got 19th), Martinsburg's Sonja Tieman (predicted 42nd, got 21st), Woodrow Wilson's Terryn Webb (predicted 32nd, got 22nd), and Jefferson's Joanna Clark (predicted 27th, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Martinsburg's Sonja Tieman who showed that her regional performance was not a one-shot deal in climbing up 21 spots from her predicted 42nd place finish.

We offer our congratulations to the Fairmont Senior girls. It took you most of the season to climb to the top, but on Saturday, you proved that you deserved the spot.

We offer our congratulations to Claire Berryman. You've been strong from start to finish, always running intelligently and controlling your own race.

We offer our congratulations to the girls 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.