The AAA Boys race opened the afternoon session. This was one of the most anticipated races of the day as there were three teams that looked like they had a shot at the title and four individuals who appeared to have a shot at the title. At the end, it was Wheeling Park who came up with the big effort to take the title and repeat as champion. Individually, Morgantown's Cody Pelliccioni took over about half way into the race and gradually pulled away for a convincing and impressive victory and missing the course record by just 4 seconds.

My first checkpoint was the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. At this point, Jefferson's Cory Hampshire held the lead. Unfortunately, my camera didn't record the photos as fast as I needed, so I don't have a full account of the leaders. My next photo has Wheeling Park's Kyle Gramlich and Morgantown's Cody Pelliccioni. I believe that Fairmont Senior's David Ciarolla and South Charleston's David Caldwell were in front of them. Things were very tight after that and my pictures and notes fail me.

At the mile marker, Cory Hampshire remained in the front, coming through in 5:13. A couple seconds back were David Ciarolla and David Caldwell. Another second back was Cody Pelliccioni. Kyle Gramlich was about two more seconds behind Pelliccioni. Hampshire's John Binotto was right on Gramlich's heels. Right behind him was Buckhannon-Upshur's Tommy Boone, Preston's Craig Pritt, and Wheeling Park's Logan Wojcik who crossed in 5:21. Next through were University's Adam Frohnapfel and Jefferson's Brandon Doughty. Wheeling Park's Russell Mulley was just about a stride behind them in 12th. Patrick Stanton was the next through in 13th. The Cabell Midland pair of Trey Beckett and Nolan Queen rounded out the top 15. Winfield's Matt Burton was next through in 16th. Following him were St. Albans' David Osborne, Parkersburg's Dustin Meyers, Cabell Midland's Corey Miller, and I think St. Albans' Thomas Osborne. He's blocked out in the photo, but I think that's who it was. Also right there was Hampshire's Nathan Whitacre.

At the top of the hill at the WVU Extension Service Building, which is about 1.4 miles into the race, Cory Hampshire was still in front, leading by about 2 seconds. Cody Pelliccioni had moved into second, just a stride ahead of David Ciarolla and David Caldwell. The foursome had established a 10 second gap on the rest of the field. Next through were Kyle Gramlich and Craig Pritt. They were trailed closely by John Binotto in 7th. Logan Wojcik was running in 8th and Adam Frohnapfel was right behind in 9th. Again, my photos fail me. I believe that Russell Mulley was the next through. Likely the next through were Brandon Doughty and Fairmont Senior's Patrick Stanton. My next photo has Jefferson's Jay Martin, Trey Beckett, Tommy Boone, and Nolan Queen. Morgantown's Lucas Greza was the next through followed by Corey Miller, Matt Burton, and Dustin Meyers.

At the 2 mile mark, Cody Pelliccioni had made a move to take the lead, crossing in 10:31. He was about a second ahead of Cory Hampshire. Five seconds behind that was David Ciarolla, and about 2 seconds behind him was David Caldwell, who crossed in 10:39. Kyle Gramlich held a slight lead over Craig Pritt for 5th. Logan Wojcik was in 7th, and John Binotto was in 8th. Adam Frohnapfel was running in 9th. Brandon Doughty was holding 10th corssing in 11:03. Russell Mulley was in 11th. It's possible that Patrick Stanton was ahead of him. My next photo has Lucas Greza. The next photo has Nolan Queen and Matt Burton. I believe that Trey Beckett, Kory Farmer, and Tommy Boone were in this area somewhere. The next photo has Ripley's Jack Whitney. The next photo has Preston's Sterling Snyder. St. Albans' Caleb Ellis may have been in the mix at this point as well.

Coming onto the track, it was all Cody Pelliccioni. The only question was whether or not he could pull off the course record. He didn't manage the course record, but he did become just the 2nd person to run the course under 16:00, crossing in 15:56 and taking the surprisingly easy victory. Cory Hampshire held on for 2nd, crossing in 16:09. David Ciarolla easily held 3rd, crossing in 16:13. Kyle Gramlich made the pass on David Caldwell for 4th while on the track. Gramlich ended at 16:26 with Caldwell crossing in 16:33. Craig Pritt pulled away from Logan Wojcik in the final stretch to take 6th. Both he and Wojcik were under 16:40. Russell Mulley used a late kick to edge past Adam Frohnapfel for 8th. Brandon Doughty was right on their heels just a second back crossing in 16:51. The members of the All-State group were the only ones to make it in under 17:00 as 11th place was 13 second behind Doughty. Patrick Stanton held off Kory Farmer for 11th. Lucas Greza slipped past John Binotto in the final stretch for 13th. Matt Burton just held off the late kick of Elkins' Ben Proudfoot who used a strong last mile to climb to 16th. Tommy Boone outkicked Caleb Ellis for 17th. Sterling Snyder and Jack Whitney rounded out the top 20.

In the search for an MVP, I have to look at Wheeling Park, who made the move from a predicted 3rd place finish to take the title. They scored 29 fewer points than was anticipated, which means that either everyone stepped forward 5 or 6 places, or there was one big move. While every single member of the Wheeling Park team finished higher than projected, there was one primary factor. This runner was predicted to finish in 55th place and to account for 44 team points. Instead, he finished in 33rd place and accounted for only 24 team points. That's 20 critical points that helped result in a 4 point victory. For that reason, the RunWV MVP of the 2008 State Meet is Jason Bennett.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? There was certainly plenty of shakeup in the team scores with Wheeling Park moving from 3rd to 1st, Preston moving from 6th to 4th, and St. Albans moving from 7th to 5th and with only one team finishing exactly in their predicted spot. Individually, 8 of the predicted top 10 finished in the top 10. 13 of the predicted top 15 did finish in the top 15, and 21 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. The two that moved into the top 10 were Wheeling Park's Russell Mulley (picked 13th, got 8th) and University's Adam Frohnapfel (picked 11th, got 9th). Those who made the move into the top 25 were Preston's Sterling Snyder (picked 30th, got 19th), Musselman's Austin Rigsby (picked 34th, got 22nd), Winfield's Cam Jividen (picked 36th, got 23rd), and Cabell Midland's Corey Miller (picked 28th, got 24th).

I offer my congratulations to the Wheeling Park boys. You weren't the favorite but you still believed. You came through as a group on the important day. All seven of you performed above expectations at the State Meet, and that is how you become team champions. This is the second consecutive year in which your entire team met or beat their predicted finish. Whatever you're doing, it's working.

I offer my congratulations to Cody Pelliccioni. You performed above expectations last year and again this year to take the title. Perhaps someday I'll learn. You stepped your performace level up dramatically in the last two meets and ran away with the title. You will be the targeted man next year, but you've shown that you can run your own race.

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.