The AAA Girls opened the day with the anticipated individual battle between top ranked Allison Pettit and predicted winner Letitia Propst and the team battle between University and Morgantown. University was picked to win by 25 points, but Morgantown certainly made sure the race was really a race, coming within 6 points of snagging another title. The individual battle was everything it was anticipated to be and more as the race was not decided until the final steps as Propst just edged out Pettit for the title. Their 18:48 times shattered the prior course record by 47 seconds. In fact, the top 8 girls beat the old course record.

The gun sounded to start the race and Fairmont Senior's Elizabeth Hendrixson and Elkins' Letitia Propst bolted to the front. After rounding the baseball field and coming back into the starting field, Hendrixson was still in front, trailed closely by Propst and Hurricane's Alex Dent. At the top of the hill (roughly 0.75 miles into the race), Wheeling Park's Courtney Yaeger had moved to the front. She was trailed closely by Alex Dent and Letitia Propst. The were trailed by Elizabeth Hendrixson and Morgantown's Allison Pettit. Right behind them were Morgantown's Emma Berry, Charleston's Chelsea Jarvis, Cabell Midland's Rachel Williams, and University's Hallie Portner. They were immediately followed by Preston's Ashley Teets, Spring Valley's Kylie Lemons, and Hampshire's Rana Conneway.

At the mile marker, Allison Pettit had taken a very slight lead, coming through in 6:25. Letitia Propst was just a stride behind. Another stride back were Alex Dent, Courtney Yaeger, Hallie Portner, and Preston's Ari Kasprowicz. Crossing just another stride back were Chelsea Jarvis, Emma Berry, and Ashley Teets. This entire group crossed between 6:25 and 6:27. The next group through were Rachel Williams, Rana Conneway, and Kylie Lemons at just about 2 seconds back. University's Lyida Martinelli came through next, followed by sister Sarah Martinelli and Elizabeth Hendrixson. They were trailed by Preston's Jordan Hamric and Martinsburg's Shelby Johnson.

The next checkpoint was at the WVU Extension service building at approximately 1.4 miles. Allison Pettit still held about a stride lead over Letitia Propst. The pair had started to generate a small gap over the remaineder of the field, though it was still only about a second or two. Courtney Yaeger was holding third with Hallie Portner in fourth. Ari Kasprowicz was running in 5th, followed closely by Emma Berry and Ashley Teets in 6th and 7th. Rachel Williams was running in 8th, just ahead of Rana Conneway and Chelsea Jarvis in 9th and 10th, respectively. Lydia Martinelli was up to 11th place at this point. Sarah Martinelli was in 12th. Kylie Lemons was just a stride ahead of Jordan Hamric for 13th place. Morgantown's Aubrey Moskal had moved into 14th place, followed by Buckhannon-Upshur's Stephanie Barlow. Shelby Johnson led the Cabell Midland pair of Danielle Winningham and Rachel Riley and Elizabeth Hendrixson.

At the two mile mark, Allison Pettit and Letitia Propst crossed together in 12:40. This was the real beginning of the race for these two. Hallie Portner and Courtney Yaeger also crossed together, just 4 seconds behind in 12:44. Ari Kasprowicz remained in 5th, crossing 12:49. She was followed by Emma Berry and Ashley Teets. I think that Lydia Martinelli had moved into 8th at this point. I don't have a photo to prove it. Chelsea Jarvis and Rana Conneway rounded out the top 10 at this point. It's possible that Martinelli was behind them at this point. Sarah Martinelli and Jordan Hamric were trying to close the gap to get into All-State position. Rachel Williams was running in 13th place. She was followed by Stephanie Barlow, Aubrey Moskal, and Kylie Lemons. They were followed by Hampshire's Cara Guyer, Alex Dent, Shelby Johnson, and Cabell Midland's Brittany Taft.

Coming onto the track, it was Allison Pettit and Letitia Propst running side-by-side, stride-for-stride. They had easily outdistanced the rest of the field. They were running hard, but neither had made that final move to try to separated. Down the backstretch, running even. Through most of the turn running even. Pettit was the first to make the move. Propst countered. The final sprint was on. Pettit and Propst. Propst and Pettit. In just the last few steps, Propst was just able to pull ahead to take the win by just 0.31 seconds. The pair covered the last 1.1 miles in 6:08. That's a 5:34 pace for the last mile of a Cross Country race. Their final times of 18:48.50 and 18:48.81 easily smashed the previous course record. A salute to these two ladies for a spectacular and courageous race. Hallie Portner was the next to come through, getting slightly away from Courtney Yaeger at the end of the race. Portner crossed in 19:11, with Yaeger just behind in 19:14. Ari Kasprowicz was solidly in 5th, crossing in 19:23. Emma Berry easily held 6th, crossingi n 19:29. Ashley Teets easily maintained her 7th place position, crossing in 19:34. These 7 girls all broke the prior course record. Lydia Martinelli had solidified her 8th place position, crossing in 19:43. Jordan Hamric had continued her rise up to 9th place and just barely held off Sarah Martinelli by just over a second. Martinelli rounded out the All-State team. The University girls did what they needed to do. They came out and ran the way they had all season long. Morgantown ran very well in taking a close second. Preston ran very well to move up into 3rd place.

The way things shook out in this meet, there's a couple places I could go for the MVP. I could look at Preston, who ran very well to move from a predicted 4th to move into 3rd, and I could look at Jefferson who moved from a predicted 9th into 6th place. This one is tough to call. Jefferson had a pair that moved up significantly, Andrea Nickerson and Lindsey Hash. Preston had one move up significantly, Deborah Loughrie. The argument for Nickerson or Hash is that it's harder to move up in the upper end of things (Nickerson moved from 27th to 15th. Hash moved from 36th to 22nd). Their team also moved up three places. The argument for Loughrie is that she moved up more places, and her change in place was enough to move her team past Cabell Midland for 3rd, and 3rd is better than 6th. It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with Andrea Nickerson. It is indeed harder to move up places further up in the field. She steadily moved up throughout the race, finally hitting the top 15 sometime in the last mile. She led the way for Jefferson's climb in the standings, and for that, she is the RunWV MVP for 2007.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? The girls held form pretty well. The top two finished as expected, albeit a bit closer than anticipated. The Preston and Cabell Midland swapped places for 3rd and 4th, respectively. Hurricane finished in 5th as anticipated. Jefferson and Parkersburg were the only teams that really finished outside their expected places, with Jefferson moving up 3 spots and Parkersburg moving down 4. Individually, 9 of the predicted top 10 did earn All-State Honors. 13 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15, and 21 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. University's Sarah Martinelli is the runner who stepped up and took an All-State Position (picked 12th, got 10th). Those who made the move into the top 25 were Jefferson's Andrea Nickerson (picked 27th, got 15th), Morgantown's Megan Radcliffe (picked 31st, got 19th), Cabell Midland's Brittany Taft (picked 29th, got 21st, and Jefferson's Lindsey Hash (picked 36th, got 22nd). The big mover of the day was Preston's Deborah Loughrie who rose 22 places from her predicted finish of 62nd to her actual finish of 40th.

I offer my congratulations to the University girls. You established yourselves as the team to beat during the season and you proved it at the State Meet. You came out and did what you had to do. You ran within yourselves and persevered despite the target on your backs.

I offer our congratulations to Leitia Propst. You were dominant in Middle School, and some people didn't think you could win as a Freshman. You handled all the pressure and all the expectations well, and proceeded to run an absolutely exceptional race to win the State Title.

I offer my congratulations to the girls who shook up the predictions. You prove what I try to tell people every year. Rankings and predictions do not determine the finish. You determine the finish.