The AAA Boys race closed the morning session. It looked as though four teams could conceivably walk away with the title if they had a great run. In the end, only one of the teams had a great day, and it was the favorite, Wheeling Park. They turned a 21 point predicted win into a 37 point flattening of the field. Individually, Ryan Beabout easily repeated his title from a year ago, taking the win by over 20 seconds. He started pulling away near the mile marker and increased his lead steadily over the remainder of the course.

There were no clear rabbits at the start of the race, or at least I couldn't tell who they were. After rounding the baseball field and coming back into view, Wheeling Park's Ryan Beabout and Jefferson's Cory Hampshire were in the front. At the top of the hill, which is roughly 3/4 of a mile into the race, Ryan Beabout was in front, just ahead of Cabell Midland's David Bias. I didn't get a photo, but I believe that Cory Hampshire, South Charleston's David Caldwell, and North Marion's Zach Tennant were the next through. Following them were Wheeling Park's Kyle Gramlich, Elkins' Alex Zurbuch, Hampshire's John Binotto, Fairmont Senior's James Haldeman, and Morgantown's Cody Pellicione.

At the mile marker, Ryan Beabout had started to establish himself. He came through in 5:13. He had opened a 3 second gap on second place, David Bias. A trio of runners crossed in 5:17: Zach Tennant, Cory Hampshire, and David Caldwell. This group had opened at least a three second gap on the rest of the field. Alex Zurbuch and Kyle Gramlich were the next to cross, about a second ahead of James Haldeman, John Binotto, Cody Pellicione, and Cabell Midland's Trey Beckett. Wheeling Park's Logan Wojcik was next in line, running in 12th. He was followed by Brooke's Philip Provenzano, Huntington's Luke Finley, Cabell Midland's Nolan Queen, Huntington's Darius Sadi-Hadegh, and University's Chris Cole. They were followed by Jefferson's Chris Ledden and teammate Brandon Doughty. Rounding out the top 20 at this point was Parkersburg's Dustin Meyers.

At the top of the hill at the WVU Extension Service Building, which is about 1.4 miles into the race, Ryan Beabout had really started to pull away. He was about give seconds in front of Zach Tennant, who had moved solidly into 2nd. David Bias was in third, about 5 seconds behind Tennant. Right behind him were David Caldwell and Cory Hampshire. Cody Pellicione had movied up to 6th, followed immediately by Trey Beckett. Kyle Gramlich was in 8th, followed by James Haldeman. Nolan Queen, John Binotto, and Logan Wojcik were just a second off that pair, battling for 10th. Chris Cole was running in 13th. Philip Provenzano was holding 14th. Brandon Doughty was running in 15th, just ahead of Wheeling Park's Jason Bennett and Huntington's Darius Sadi-Hadegh. Chris Ledden, University's Matt Schiffbauer, and Preston's Craig Pritt rounded out the top 20 at this point.

At the 2 mile mark, Ryan Beabout had stretched his lead to 11 seconds, coming through in 10:35. Zach Tennant had firmed his grasp on 2nd place, coming through in 10:46, 7 seconds ahead of third place runner, Cory Hampshire. David Caldwell was right on Hampshire's shoulder in 4th. David Bias was holding 5th. Cody Pellicione was running in 6th. Trey Beckett was in 7th, with Kyle Gramlich just a step behind, both crossing in 11:04. Logan Wojcik had moved into 9th place. Alex Zurbuch was holding on to 10th. The cloudy conditions kept my camera from registering photos as fast as I'd like, so I missed a few shots in here. I believe the next group through included Chris Cole, Matt Schiffbauer, Nolan Queen, Philip Provenzano, John Binotto, and Jason Bennett. I'm certain this group was behind Zurbuch. They may have been mixed around these next four runners. Capital's Jordan Burgess had moved just in front of James Haldeman. Brandon Doughty and Craig Pritt followed close behind.

Coming onto the track, it was all Ryan Beabout. He had nearly doubled his lead during the last mile, cruising to a 21 second win. His time of 16:14 set a new course record. Zach Tennant solidly held onto 2nd crossing in 16:35. David Caldwell pulled into 3rd over the last mile, finishing in 16:40. David Bias made a move into into 4th while on the track, finishing in 16:41. Kyle Gramlich used a final kick to get past Cody Pellicione for 5th, each crossing in 16:43. Pellicione easily held 6th, finishing 15 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Matt Schiffbauer made a major move in the last mile to come all the way up to 7th place finishing his rise from 28th place at the mile marker. He was the final runner under 17:00 with his 16:58 finishing time. Trey Beckett held onto 8th place, two seconds ahead of Logan Wojcik. Brandon Doughty used a strong last mile and a furious finish to take the final All-State Spot, just squeezing past teammate Cory Hampshire in the last few meters. Any doubts about the team race were obliterated in the last mile as Russell Mulley moved up numerous spots to seal the deal.

As in the girl's race, there are couple directions I could go with the MVP. Wheeling Park won too easily for it to go to any of them, though Logan Wojcik squeezing out a 3rd All-State award for the team is worthy of note. Jefferson moved up from 4th to 3rd. Capital moved from 10th to 7th. Consideration must be given to runners from both schools. Jefferson has a trio of candidates. Brandon Doughty had an outstanding run that resulted in an All-State position. Joshua Davis moved up 16 spots from his predicted finish. Jack Conant moved up 20 spots from his predicted finish. All are very worthy candidates. Capital has a pair of candidates. Sean Cantrell moved up 13 spots to slide into the top 25. Benji Hamer moved up 20 spots, gaining important team places along the way. Capital could have done without either of their performances and still held their position. Jefferson only edged University by 3 points for 3rd. So, as in the girls division, I'm going to Jefferson. Though his teammates moved up more spots than he did, his move was in the upper end of the race spectrum. Brandon Doughty's climb into the top 10 was instrumental in Jefferson's rise to a 3rd place finish, and for that, he is the RunWV MVP for the 2007 State Meet.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It depends on how you look at it. It's either pretty good or pretty bad. The top 2 predicted teams did finish as the top 2. The 3rd and 4th places teams swapped places. 5th and 6th held form. Capital made the major move from 10th to 7th. Elkins dropped from 7th to 9th. In all 9 of the 11 teams finished within one spot of their predicted finish. Individually, there was both good and bad. Only 5 of the predicted top 10 finished in the top 10, probably the worst set of picks I've ever done. However, 12 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15. Also, 23 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25, probably one of the best sets of picks I've ever done from that perspective. Who turned me upside down? The five guys that stepped forward to claim an All-State position were Morgantown's Cody Pellicione (picked 11th, got 6th), University's Matt Schiffbauer (picked 13th, got 7th), Cabell Midland's Trey Beckett (picked 12th, got 8th), Wheeling Park's Logan Wojcik (picked 15th, got 9th), and Jefferson's Brandon Doughty (picked 24th, got 10th). Those that climbed into the top 25 were Capital's Sean Cantrell (picked 37th, got 24th) and Fairmont Senior's Dayton McVicker (picked 34th, got 25th). The future looks solid with only 3 Seniors in the top 12 and two Freshmen. 15 of the top 25 return.

I offer my congratulations to the Wheeling Park boys. Your strength was doubted by some, but you showed your running muscle late in the season to re-establish yourselves as the prohibitive favorites. Then you topped it off with an outstanding performance in which all seven runners exceeded their predicted finish. You brought your best stuff on the day that it mattered, and you were rewarded with the title that eluded you a year ago. You were dominant on Saturday, and you are State Champions.

I offer my congratulations to Ryan Beabout. Once again, you were the man to beat from Day 1. You held up under the pressure and were not beaten by an in-state runner all season. You've handled yourself with dignity, and you have once again been rewarded for your hard work.

I offer my congratulations to the boys who shook up our predictions. You prove what we try to tell people every year. Rankings and predictions don't mean anything. That's why we run the race.