The A-AA Boys opened the day's events at a brisk 34 degrees. This was expected to be a tight battle between Grafton and St. Marys. The tight battle didn't quite come to fruition as Grafton pulled out for the 18 point win...but that was over Philip Barbour rather than St. Marys. The battle for 2nd place was very tight as Philip Barbour edged St. Marys by a single point and Doddridge by just five points. Individually, defending champion Drew Woodford took the lead before the top of the first hill and continued to pull away over the remainder of the race for the convincing 17 second win.

My first checkpoint was at the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. Grafton's Drew Woodford has taken the lead by this point, crossing in 3:54. He was followed closely by Scott's Will Shaffer and Richwood's Andrew Shaffer in 3:55 and 3:56. Ritchie's Johnny Hogue was running in 4th with Berkeley Springs' Jake Wise in 5th. Oak Hill's Scott Treadway was in 6th at the front of a pack with Cameron's Austin Chambers, Buffalo's Evan Childers, and Sherman's Brandon Harless. Scott's Ryan Honeycutt was running in 10th place. Berkeley Spring's Casey Doxzen was in 11th. Magnolia's Bill Feeney was in 12th with Oak Hill's Wes Stowers in 13th. Ritchie's Brian Britton was in 14th, trailed by Ravenswood's Matt Knowlton and Doddridge's Daniel Clevenger, crossing in 4:08. Cameron's Jared Dunn was in 17th with Frankfort's Trae Miller in 18th. Doddridge's Caleb Moore was in 19th. Independence's Isaac Cales rounded out the top 20 at this point.

At the mile mark, Drew Woodford had extended his lead, crossing in 5:21. Andrew Shaffer and Will Shaffer crossed together in 5:25. This trio had opened a substantial gap on the rest of the field. Johnny Hogue remained in 4th, crossing in 5:33. Evan Childers was in 5th at the front of the main pack crossing in 5:39. Brandon Harless and Jake Wise were next through, followed closely by Scotty Treadway, Daniel Clevenger, and Ryan Honeycutt for the top 10 in 5:40. Austin Chambers and Casey Doxzen were running in 11th and 12th, respectively. Bill Feeney was running in 13th with Caleb Moore in 14th in 5:41. Ritchie's Clint Hardman had moved up to 15th. Trae Miller was in 16th with Westside's Cameron Davis in 17th and Wes Stowers in 18th. Williamstown's Aaron Lockhart was in 19th and Philip Barbour's Wes Anderson was in 20th all crossing in 5:42.

At the Extension Service Building, which is approximately 1.4 miles into the race, Drew Woodford continued to lead, coming through in about 7:32. Will Shaffer was in 2nd at 7:38, followed closely by Andrew Shaffer in 7:40. Johnny Hogue continued to hold 4th, crossing in 7:52. Brandon Harless had moved into 5th in 7:57. with Bill Feeney moving up to 6th in 7:58. Evan Childers was in 7th and Cameron Davis had moved up to 8th with both crossing in 7:59. Scotty Treadway was in 9th with Casey Doxzen in 10th crossing in 8:00. Caleb Moore was in 11th and Magnolia's Alec Hinerman had moved up to 12th crossing in 8:01. Ryan Honeycutt was in 13th with Shady Spring's Tyler Kosut was in 14th with Clint Hardman in 15th each crossing in 8:03. Matt Knowlton was in 16th, Jake Wise in 17th and St. Marys' Derek Bayless was up to 18th with each crossing in 8:04. Austin Chambers was in 19th in 8:05. Aaron Lockhart rounded out the top 20 at this point crossing in 8:06.

At the two mile mark, Drew Woodford had continued to extend his lead, crossing the mark in 10:40. Will Shaffer and Andrew Shaffer crossed together in 10:51. Johnn Hogue continued to run in 4th, coming through in 11:07. Cameron Davis had moved up to 5th in 11:11 with Brandon Harless in 6th in 11:12. Bill Feeney was in 7th in 11:13. Scotty Treadway was in 8th in 11:14. Alec Hinerman had moved up to 9th in 11:15 with Evan Childers in 10th in 11:16 and Caleb Moore in 11th in 11:17. Tyler Kosut was up to 12th in 11:18. Casey Doxzen was in 13th trailed closely by Wes Anderson and Derek Bayless in 11:21. Clint Hardman was in 16th in 11:22 and Matt Knowlton was in 17th in 11:23. Wes Stowers was in 18th in 11:27. Austin Chambers was in 19th in 11:28. Trae Miller rounded out the top 20 also in 11:28.

Coming onto the track, Drew Woodford was all alone. He had continued to stretch his lead, and he cruised around the track to a 16:24 finish. Andrew Shaffer had gotten away from Will Shaffer, making his move shortly after the 2 mile mark and pulling away to a 16:41 to 16:51 gap. Alec Hinerman had continued to move up to 4th in 16:54 with teammate Bill Feeney in 5th at 16:59. Johnny Hogue narrowly held onto 6th by a second over Cameron Davis 17:02 to 17:03. Brandon Harless held on for 8th in 17:06. Scotty Treadway held the 9th spot in 17:09. Wes Anderson outkicked Tyler Kosut for the final All-State Spot as both scored a 17:11. Derek Bayless used a late kick to move into 12th just ahead of Casey Doxzen with both grabbing a 17:18 finish. Caleb Moore held the 14th spot with a 17:20. Clint Hardman held off Matt Knowlton for 15th with Hardman getting a 17:25 and Knowlton getting a 17;26. Charleston Catholic's Marcus Black used a strong kick to move up to 17th in 17:30. Frankfort's Trae Miller claimed 18th with a 17;31, and Austin Chambers scored a 19th with his 17:32. Wes Stowers edged Jake Wise for the 20th spot in 17:34.

In looking for the MVP for the A-AA Boys Race, I had to look at Philip Barbour. They had been picked to finish 5th (albeit very closely) and moved up to 2nd. They had one guy who ran well above his predicted finish. Obviously, Wes Anderson's move from 14th to 10th in the last mile was important, but it was Matt King that moved up from a predicted finish of 35th to an actual finish of 24th. That picked up 9 team points for Philip Barbour which was very critical considering that Philip Barbour only beat St. Marys by 1 point and Doddridge by 5. Even more critical, King made a pass of two runners after coming out of the turn and heading for the finish line. One of those runners belonged to St. Marys, making that pass a 2 point swing. For those reasons, the 2010 RunWV MVP is Matt King of Philip Barbour.

So, how did RunWV do on the predictions? Grafton took the expected win. Philip Barbour moved up from a predicted 5th to 2nd. St. Marys dropped a spot while Doddridge moved up from 6th to 4th. Oak Hill fell from 3rd to 5th. Ritchie moved up a spot to 6th. Ravenswood fell hard from a predicted 4th to 7th. Shady Spring moved up 1 spot to 8th at the expense of Scott. Richwood, Williamstown, and Independence finished 10th through 12th as expected. Individually, only 7 of the 10 predicted top 10 did indeed earn All-State Honors. Only 10 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15, and only 20 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. The three that earned the unexpected spots on the All-State Podium were Ritchie's Johnny Hogue (picked 11th, got 6th), Westside's Cameron Davis (picked 13th, got 7th), and Sherman's Brandon Harless (picked 23rd, got 8th). Those who moved up into the top 25 were Berkeley Springs' Casey Doxzen (picked 27th, got 13th), Ritchie's Clint Hardman (picked 34th, got 15th), Charleston Catholic's Marcus Black (picked 30th, got 17th), Philip Barbour's Matt King (picked 35th, got 24th), and St. Marys' Charlie Drazba (picked 31st, got 25th). The big mover for the day was Williamstown's Jason Lockhart who rose 24 spots from a predicted finish of 81st to an actual finish of 57th. From a team standpoint, the team that outperformed the predictions by the most was Doddridge, who scored 29 fewer points than was predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Grafton boys. You were always on the edge of being the favorite and not being the favorite, but you scored the repeat team championship and did it at less than 100% health.

I offer my congratulations to Drew Woodford. You took control of this race early, much earlier than I anticipated. You proved to be the strongest in the field. You have carried yourself with exceptional sportsmanship and dignity, and you deserved this championship.

I offer my congratulations to the boys who shook up our predictions. You prove what I try to tell people every year. Rankings and predictions mean very little in the grand scheme of things. Nothing is determined until the race is run.