The AAA Girls race closed the day's activities. Hurricane came in as a fairly heavy favorite, but everyone knew that University was a threat. Individually, it was expected to be a battle between Preston's Ari Kasprowicz and Elkins' Letitia Propst. In the team battle, University pulled off the upset on backs of some strong performances from their back end runners. The individual race was a thing of beauty as Letitia Propst overcame a tremendous deficit in the last mile to pull off the victory in course record time. The top three girls all bettered the old course record.

The first checkpoint is the top of the hill, which is about 0.7 miles into the race. At this point, Preston's Ari Kasprowicz held about a one stride lead over Wheeling Park's Courtney Yaeger. Elkins' Letitia Propst was a few strides behind that. She was in the front of a small pack that included Hurricane's Alex Dent and Winfield's Megan Truelove. Next through were Capital's Chelsea Jarvis and Jefferson's Alyssa Boucher. This group had about a 15-20 meter advantage over the next runner, University's Lydia Martinelli. She held about a five meter advantage over Jefferson's Andrea Nickerson, University's Sarah Martinelli, Buckhannon-Uphsur's Stephanie Barlow, and Bridgeport's Erika Voreh. Fairmont Senior's Alyssa Scherich was next through, followed closely by North Marion's Jordan McDonald, University's Katelyn Wheeler, and Hurricane's Josie Crouch in 16th. Fairmont Senior's Chelsea Clark was in 17th. Cabell Midland's Rachel Williams was in 18th. She was followed by Cabell Midland's Brittany Taft and Jefferson's Lindsey Hash who rounded out the top 20. University's Julia Paladino and Capital's Christine Azevedo were also in that pack in the hunt for the top 20.

At the mile mark, Ari Kasprowicz came through in 6:01 with Courtney Yaeger right behind in 6:02. Letitia Propst was holding 3rd in 6:08. Alex Dent and Megan Truelove came through in 6:10 with Chelsea Jarvis and Alyssa Boucher just a second behind. Sarah Martinelli and Lydia Martinelli were running together nearly 10 seconds behind. Andrea Nickerson was holding 10th, crossing in 6:23. Stephanie Barlow was in 11th. Erika Voreh was in 12th with Jordan McDonald starting to move and holding 13th. Alyssa Scherich was running in 14th. Chelsea Clark was in 15th, followed closely by Josie Crouch and Katelyn Wheeler. Hampshire's Danielle Lewis had moved into 18th. Christine Azevedo was in 19th, and Rachel Williams was in 20th.

The next checkpoint was at the WVU Extension service building at approximately 1.4 miles. Ari Kasprowicz had slightly extended her lead to about 2 seconds, close to 3. Courtney Yaeger was still 2nd. Letitia Propst was about 7 seconds behind Yaeger. Alex Dent had opened a small gap on Megan Truelove in the battle for 4th. Chelsea Jarvis was holding 6th, just ahead of Alyssa Boucher. Lydia Martinelli and Sarah Martinelli were holding a slight advantage over Jordan McDonald to round out the top 10. Andrea Nickerson was in 11th about a stride behind McDonald. Stephanie Barlow was holding 12th, a few strides ahead of Josie Crouch. Erika Voreh was in 13th, just ahead of Alyssa Scherich in 14th. Danielle Lewis had moved up to 15th, and Chelsea Clark was running in 16th. Katelyn Wheeler was holding 17th. I'm not sure if they're the next through or not, but my next photo is Rachel Williams, Lindsey Hash, and Brittany Taft.

At the two mile mark, Ari Kasprowicz had extended her lead to 4 seconds over Courtney Yaeger, with Kasprowicz crossing in 12:06 and Yaeger in 12:10. Letitia Propst was a distant 3rd, crossing in 12:23. She had opened up about a 10 second gap on Alex Dent, who was about 3 seconds ahead of Megan Truelove who continued to hold 5th. Chelsea Jarvis came through in 6th, crossing in 12:43. Alyssa Boucher was a couple seconds behind in 7th. Jordan McDonald had moved into 8th, about a stride ahead of Sarah Martinelli. Lydia Martinelli and Andrea Nickerson were battling for 10th. I think Josie Crouch had moved into 11th at this point. Danielle Lewis had moved into 13th and Stephanie Barlow was 14th. I think that Erika Voreh was running in 15th. Alyssa Scherich was in 16th. Chelsea Clark was running in 17th. Allison Pettit had made a move into 18th with Lindsey Hash and Brittany Taft rounding out the top 20.

Coming onto the track, the unthinkable had happened. Letitia Propst had made a major move and had taken the lead, overcoming a 17 second deficit. The top three came onto the track practically together. On the track, Propst immediately started to distance herself. Courtney Yaeger gave a game effort to go with her while Kasprowicz was unable to match the other two. Propst continued to push to the finish line crossing in 18:28, breaking the course record (held by her) by a whopping 20 seconds. Like last year, Propst was simply massively impressive on the last 1.1. She covered the last 1.1 in 6:05, which is about a 5:32 pace. Courtney Yaeger was just two seconds behind, capping off her excellent race in 18:30. Ari Kasprowicz also broke the old record, finishing in 18:40. Alex Dent held off the last push of Megan Truelove by less than a second. Andrea Nickerson ran a stellar last mile to move all the way up to 6th and nearly catch Dent and Truelove. Jordan McDonald got by Alyssa Boucher for 7th. Josie Crouch moved up to 9th in the final mile. Sarah Martinelli took the final All-State Position by just 0.09 ahead of Chelsea Jarvis. Lydia Martinelli was 11 seconds behind in 12th, but 22 seconds ahead of the 13th place finisher. The top 12 ran under 20:00. Erika Voreh kicked past Stephanie Barlow for 13th. Danielle Lewis held onto 15th. Alyssa Scherich was well back in 16th. Allison Pettit toughed out a 17th place finisher for her team. Lindsey Hash held a solid 18th. Parkersburg South's Sara Seebaugh and Parkersburg's Andrea Sall both used late pushed to take the final two spots in the top 20.

To me, the MVP was clear this meet. Not everyone on University's team performed up to expectations, but when you have depth and someone that is part of that depth really steps up their performance, it can be huge. In this case University had a girl who by all reasoning is their number six runner. Saturday, she ran an aggressive race that saw her in the top 15 early. She did fade a bit late in the race, but she did finish 20 places above her predicted place. In the process, she picked up 16 team places for her team, and that provided enough to get by the favored Hurricane girls. The 2008 RunWV MVP for the State Meet is Katelyn Wheeler.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? Like in the boys, there was a lot of jostling. The top two switched places. Preston moved up a pair of spots. Jefferson moved up a couple spots. Only 3 of the 11 teams finished in their predicted positions. Individually, 8 of the predicted top 10 did indeed finish in the top 10. 13 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15, but only 20 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. The runners who made their way into the All-State lineup were Jefferson's Andrea Nickerson (picked 12th, got 6th) and University's Sarah Martinelli (picked 11th, got 10th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Fairmont Senior's Alyssa Scherich (picked 29th, got 16th), Jefferson's Lindsey Hash (picked 38th, got 18th), Riverside's Leslie Thomas (picked 33rd, got 21st), and Cabell Midland's Brittany Taft (picked 32nd, got 23rd). The big mover of the day was Cabell Midland's Danielle Winningham who rose 22 spots from a predicted finish of 49th to an actual finish of 27th.

I offer my congratulations to the University girls. You were the underdog, but you came out and ran your race. You weren't afraid of the competition, and you weren't afraid to be a little aggressive. You've earned your second title in a row will almost certainly be in the hunt again next season.

I offer our congratulations to Leitia Propst. Overcoming a 17 second deficit in the final 1.1 against that level of competition is a testament to both your talent and your heart. Most runners would have packed it in and been happy with a solid third, but you are a competitor. Third wasn't good enough and your finish was phenomenal for the 2nd year in a row. The target will remain on your back next season.

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.