This was expected to be the tightest team race of the four. Grafton had held the top ranking spot for nearly the entire season. Doddrige had beaten Grafton on several occasions. Which one would come out on top on the big stage? Doddridge showed that its earlier wins over the defending champion Bearcats were no fluke as they performed the feat yet again at the State Meet, taking the meet by a 9-point margin. Wheeling Central ran a strong 3rd, showing that they were indeed a threat. This race also featured the most impressive outing of the day as Valerie Peer shattered the course record by 18 seconds.

We got our first glimpse of the race at the mile mark, and the pace set was a blistering one. Pre-Meet favorite Valerie Peer of Berkeley Springs was out front. She blasted through the opening mile in 5:31. Doddridge's Clara Grandt wasn't far off, coming throug in 5:37. Grandt's teammate Jennie Spencer was in 3rd in 5:46, followed closely by Winfield's Kasey Jividen in 5:48. Teamwise, Grafton looked to be in pretty good shape as they had 4 running near the front, while Doddridge was further back in the pack.

At the two mile mark, it was apparent that the individual race was pretty much over. Valerie Peer had continued her assault on the course coming through two miles in 11:38, opening a lead of over 30 seconds on Clara Grandt, who held a strong 2nd. Berkeley Spring's Laurel Thomas had moved into 3rd at this point, followed closely by Kasey Jividen. Jennie Spencer was clinging to 5th, with several runners closing in. Among that group were a pair from Grafton (Erika Rucker and Sarah Rosier), Ritchie's Jamie Cokeley, and PikeView's Vanessa Adams. Teamwise, the meet looked pretty close now. Grafton had 4 runners in front of Doddridge's 3rd, but Doddridge's 5th and 6th had passed Grafton's number 5.

Valerie Peer did not allow herself to coast to the finish. She plowed through the finish line still looking very strong, crossing in 18:44, smashing the course record by 18 seconds. Clara Grandt cruised in for 2nd place. Laruel Thomas got away from Kasey Jividen for a convincing 3rd, while Jividen easily held 4th. The next five spots were decided by two seconds in a furious finish. The front spot went to Grafton's Erika Rucker, followed closely by PikeView's Vanessa Adams, Ritchie's Jamie Cokeley, Doddridge's Jennie Spencer, and Grafton's Sarah Rosier. Ravenswood's Megan Lawless claimed the final All-State Spot. In the team race, Doddridge moved up a bit in the last section while some of the Grafton girls dropped a bit, and that provided the final difference.

When we look for the RunWV MVP, usually there's someone out there whose performance by itself made the difference in a team's place. Generally, that is going to come from the top few teams or from a team that exceeded their expected place by two or more places. Since no team was more than one place removed from its predicted place, we stayed at the top end of the charts. The RunWV MVP for this meet was Elizabeth Hyde. The Doddridge Freshman helped seal the victory for the Bulldogs by exceeding her predicted place by 18 positions moved her into the Bulldog front five for this meet and helped stretch a very tight race into a more comfortable victory.

How did RunWV do on our predictions? On the team side, our 1st and 2nd flopped places, as did our 4th and 5th, and our 6th and 7th. No team went way above or way below expectations. Individually, 7 of our top 10 finished in the top 10 (we get 8 of 10 if you remove Jennifer Povick from the predictions). 13 of our top 15 finished in the top 15, and 20 of our top 25 finished in the top 25 (we get 21 of 25 if we exclude Povick from the predictions). The runners who climbed up to take unpredicted All-State Honors were PikeView's Vanessa Adams (predicted 11th, got 6th), Ritchie's Jamie Cokeley (predicted 12th, got 7th), and Ravenswood's Megan Lawless (predicted 15th, got 10th). Those who climbed into the top 25 were Wheeling Central's Bethany Sloane (predicted 26th, got 12th), PikeView's Susan Payton (predicted 28th, got 16th), Frankfort's Sara Sine (predicted 30th, got 22nd), Tyler Consolidated's Alexis Emch (predicted 32nd, got 23rd), and Doddridge's Valerie Hyde (predicted 31st, got 25th). The big mover for the meet was Doddridge's Elizabeth Hyde, who was predicted 49th but finished 31st.

We offer our congratulations to the Doddridge girls. You won meet after meet during the season, losing only to Grafton once, Fairmont Senior once, and Elkins once. You never lost confidence, and you never lost site of the ultimate goal.

We offer our congratulations to Valerie Peer. You turned in by far the most dominating and impressive performance of the meet. You showed that the performance at Chick-fil-A was no one time deal. We don't know if you're planning on running Footlocker, but we certainly hope you do. We look forward to seeing you for two more years.

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.