The afternoon session was opened by the AAA Boys Race. Cabell Midland came in as a strong favorite, and they delivered, taking the win by 38 points. University had a stellar day to easily capture 2nd place. Individually, Jacob Burcham was expected to take an easy win, and he also delivered in a big way, breaking the 15:00 barrier with a 14:58.04 and taking the win by 44 seconds.

My first checkpoint was the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. At this point, Cabell Midland's Jacob Burcham had already moved well in front of the field, coming through in 3:32. He was already 10 seconds ahead of George Washington's Matthew Brafford and Jefferson's Andrew Milliron, who came through in 3:42 in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Cabell Midland's Avery Campbell was in 4th at 3:43. Oak Hill's Wes Stowers was at the front of a four person pack that came through in 3:44. He was followed by Ripley's Chad Longanacre, Jefferson's Ryan Graf, and Preston's Brody Born. Huntington's Jack McGee (who I owe an apology because I think I called him Chandler Smith repeatedly on the video footage) was in 9th at 3:45. Greenbrier East's Levi Snedegar, Morgantown's Cameron Greza, and University's Andy Paladino each crossed at 3:46 in 10th through 12th positions, respectively. Elkins' Austin Hamrick, Oak Hill's Cody Gillespie, and Parkersburg's Nick Musgrave crossed at 3:49 in 13th through 15th positions, respectively. Ripley's Caleb Casto and the Cabell Midland pair of Mason Dino and Brian Lawhon crossed at 3:50 in 16th through 18th positions, respectively. Hampshire's Casey Feezle and Jefferson's Jackson Jacobs were in 19th and 20th, respectively at 3:51.

At the mile mark, Jacob Burcham blew through the mile in 4:53, already 14 seconds ahead of the field. Matthew Brafford was running second, just ahead of Avery Campbell with both coming through in 5:07. Andrew Milliron was in 4th at 5:08. Brody Born had moved up to 5th in 5:11, just ahead of Ryan Graf and Cameron Greza who matched that time. Wes Stowers was in 8th with Jack McGee in 9th, Andy Paladino in 10th, and Levi Snedegar in 11th, all coming through in 5:12. Nick Musgrave was in 12th at 5:14 with Chad Longanacre close behind in the same time. Mason Dino was up to 14th with Brian Lawhon still on his heels in 15th with both crossing in 5:16. Austin Hamrick and Cody Gillespie crossed in 5:17 in 16th and 17th, respectively. Cabell Midland's Andrew Short had moved into 18th position, at the front of a pack that came through in 5:20. I think Morgantown's Connor Riley was in 19th, and University's Seth Edwards was in 20th.

At the top of the hill at the WVU Extension Service Building, which is about 1.4 miles into the race, I lost times because my watch smacked off my clipboard as I ran from the mile mark up to this spot and stopped. But I can still give the time gaps. At this point Jacob Burcham continued to stretch his lead, which was now up to 18 seconds. Matthew Brafford and Avery Cambpell were battling for 2nd with Brafford having a slight edge. Andrew Milliron was in 4th another 6 seconds behind. Brody Born was in 5th, just a second behind Milliron. Wes Stowers was up to 6th another 3 seconds behind. Jack McGee was in 7th, just ahead of Cameron Greza. Both were just 2 seconds behind Stowers. Levi Snedegar was in 9th with Andy Paladino in 10th and Ryan Graf in 11th, each just 1 more second behind. Mason Dino was up to 12th another 2 seconds back with Brian Lawhon matching that gap in 13th. Nick Musgrave was another couple seconds back in 14th. Connor Riley was up to 15th another 4 seconds back. He was at the front of a tight group that had Seth Edwards in 16th and Andrew Short in 17th each that same 4 seconds behind Musgrave. Austin Hamrick was in 18th just one more second behind. Chad Longanacre was in 19th yet another second behind. Cabell Midland's Jeremy Waugh had moved into 20th another second back.

I picked up some extra footage prior to the 2 mile mark. Burcham had moved the lead on out to 26 seconds over Matthew Brafford. Brafford had taken firm control of 2nd place, opening up a 9 second gap on Avery Campbell. Andrew Milliron had closed to within 2 seconds of Campbell. Brody Born was just 1 second behind Milliron in 5th. Wes Stowers remained in 6th, just 2 seconds behind Born. Cameron Greza was up to 7th just one more second back. Jack McGee was in 8th another second back. Levi Snedegar was in 9th another second back. Andy Paladino was in 10th yet another second back. 4 seconds later, Ryan Graf, Mason Dino, and Brian Lawhon came through in that order but very close. Then I moved on to the 2 mile mark.

At the 2 mile mark, I didn't get there in time to get Jacob Burcham, so I'm not sure what the lead was, and as mentioned before my screw up with the watch left me without times. Matthew Brafford extended his lead in 2nd to 12 seconds. Avery Campbell remained in 3rd, but just barely ahead of Brody Born and Andrew Milliron who were just a second behind. Those two crossed side by side with Born having perhaps a slight edge. Wes Stowers was another 4 seconds behind in 6th. Cameron Greza was running 7th another second behind. Jack McGee, Andy Paladino, and Levi Snedegar each crossed a second later with McGee holding a slight edge on that group and Paladino and Snedegar pretty much even. There was a six second gap back to 11th place, which was Mason Dino. Brian Lawhon was another second behind in 12th. Ryan Graf had fallen off the pace and dropped to 13th, another 3 seconds behind. Nick Musgrave was in 14th another second back. Andrew Short was up to 15th another second behind. University's Tristan Harvey had moved up well, and was in 16th position just one more second behind. He was followed 1 second later by Seth Edwards. Connor Riley was in 18th another 2 seconds behind. Austin Hamrick was in 19th anther 4 seconds back. Casey Feezle was back up to 18th just 1 second later.

Coming onto the track, the only question was whether or not Jacob Burcham would be able to go under 15:00. A strong push to the end got him in at 14:58.04. He finished before 2nd place made it onto the track. Matthew Brafford easily held onto the 2nd spot pushing his gap out to 15 seconds with an impressive 15:42. Avery Campbell outkicked Andrew Milliron for 3rd. Campbell came onto the track ahead, Milliron made a move to get close and Campbell put on one more push to close the deal Campbell score a 15:57 and Milliron got a 15:59 to give us four under 16:00. Brody Born just missed the mark with a 16:01 5th place finish. Wes Stowers held off a late move by Levi Snedegar for 6th with Stowers clocking a 16:09 and Snedegar a 16:10. Andy Paladino moved up to 8th with a 16:14. Jack McGee held off Mason Dino for 9th as both crossed in 16:18. They completed the All-State unit. Cameron Greza came in 11th with a 16:21. Tristan Edwards continued his 2nd half surge all the way up to 12th with a 16:29. Seth Edwards moved up to 13th in the last mile to finish in 16:31. Andrew Short moved up to 14th in 16:32. A five man race for the next spots ended with Brian Lawhon showing his spped to pull out 15th place, with Casey Feezle in 16th, Nick Musgrave in 17th, Ryan Graf in 18th, and Connor Riley in 19th. All five recorded 16:36 times, and only 0.61 separated 15th from 19th. Jeremy Waugh moved back into 20th at the end with a 16:39. In all, we had 4 go under 16:00, 12 go under 16:30, and 31 go under 17:00.

In considering the MVP for the meet, there were really only a couple places I could look. Hurricane moved up 4 team places from a predicted 11th to 7th, and University moved up onto the podium. The moves made by University came further up the field and that tends to be a harder move to make, so that's where I landed. University had two runners in particular who made significant moves. One of these moves came much further up the field than the other. One of Unversity's runners made the move from a predicted 31st place finish to an actual 12th place finish. For that reason, University's Tristan Harvey is the 2012 RunWV MVP.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? Cabell Midland took home the title as expected. University moved up a spot into 2nd. Morgantown and Ripley each moved up a spot. Hurricane made the big move, climbing 4 spots. Individually, 8 of the predicted top 10 finished in the top 10. Only 11 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15. 21 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. The two who snagged All-State Positions were Huntington's Jack McGee (picked 12th, got 9th) and Cabell Midland's Mason Dino (picked 13th, got 10th). Those who cracked the top 25 were University's Tristan Harvey (picked 31st, got 12th), Morgantown's Connor Riley (picked 45th, got 19th), University's Alex Minor (picked 34th, got 23rd), and Shady Spring's Tyler Kosut (picked 29th, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Morgantown's Connor Riley who rose 26 positions from a predicted place of 45th to an actual 19th. From a team standpoint, Hurricane had the biggest move, scoring 41 fewer points than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Cabell Midland boys. You had the target on your backs all season and you excelled under the pressure. You were expected to win big and score low, and you won bigger and scored lower. You performed at the top when it was time to perform at the top.

I offer my congratulations to Jacob Burcham. You rolled on the course on Saturday. You took control from the start and pressed through the entire meet. You cracked the 15:00 barrier and accomplished a season-long goal. Good luck to you at the Nike Team meet.

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.