The morning session closed with the AAA Boys Race. The weather remained chilly and now with an occasional light breeze, but still excellent racing weather. The team race went as expected, though Cabell Midland was given a little more trouble than expected as University really frontloaded and cut the 25 point margin to 10, but it was still a victory for the Cabell Midland pack. Individually, Seth Edwards started pulling away at about 1.75 miles and really put the race away over the last 1.1 to take the win by over 13 seconds.

My first checkpoint was the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. At this point, the major players were all at the front, and the pack was much closer than in the girls' race. In fact, 20 place in this race was closer to the lead than 3rd place was in the girls' race. University's Seth Edwards held a slight edge over Morgantown's Connor Riley and teammate Alex Minor as all three passed at 3:40. Cabell Midland's Will Sheils and University's Geandre Jones were running 4th and 5th, respectively with both coming through in 3:41. George Washington's Jon Sandy was in 6th at 3:43. Hedgesville's Daniel Beavers was running 7th at 3:44. Cabell Midland's Josh Minor was in 8th at 3:45. Capital's Samuel Thomas was in 9th at 3:46. Cabell Midland had a 3rd runner in the top 10 as Nick Salmons rounded out the lineup at 3:47. That time was matched by Cabell Midland's Austin Jordan and Winfield Freshman Aaron Withrow in 11th and 12th, respectively. George Washington Freshman Jacob Birurakis was in 13th at 3:48, matched by Cabell Midland's Coy Smith in 14th at 3:48. University's Philip White lead a trio at 3:49. He was followed closely by Winfield's R.J. Weiford and John Marshall's Clay Thorn. Riverside's Nick Kennedy was in the 18th position. Cabell Midland teammates Jonathan Hathaway and Jeremiah Parlock crossed in 19th and 20th, respectively with both at 3:51.

At the mle Mark, the lead group was still at 5. Seth Edwards maintained a slight edge over Connor Riley...a matter of inches. Alex Minor was just a stride back as each came through in 5:05. Will Sheils was in 4th, just a step ahead of Geandre Jones with both at 5:06. This group had started to open a gap on the remainder of the field. Jon Sandy remained in 6th at 5:09. Daniel Beavers was holding 7th at 5:11, just ahead of Nick Salmons who crossed with the same time. Josh Minor was running 9th with Austin Jordan in 10th with both at 5:12. Samuel Thomas held a slight edge over Coy Smith with both at 5:14. R.J. Weiford was in 13th at 5:15. Jacob Birurakis lead a group through at 5:16. He was followed quickly by Aaron Withrow, Philip White, and Jonathan Hathaway. South Charleston's Josh Greear had moved into 18th at 5:17. Clay Thorn matched that time in 19th. Jeremiah Parlock remained in 20th with a 5:21.

At the top of the hill at the WVU Extension Service Building, which is the highest point on the course, things had started to open up a bit. Seth Edwards reamined in the lead and had a slight gap on Connor Riley now. Edwards passed at 7:25 with Riley at 7:26. They had opened a slight gap on the next two through. That next pair was Alex Minor and Geandre Jones, who both passed at 7:28, giving University 3 of the top 4 at this point. They had taken a significant lead on Will Sheils in 5th at 7:33. Daniel Beavers had a slight edge over Nick Salmons for 6th with both coming through at 7:37. Austin Jordan had a slight lead over Jon Sandy for 8th with both 7:38. Jonathan Hathaway had made a significant move up the field into 10th at 7:41. Samuel Thomas was in 11th at 7:42 with that time matched by Josh Greear, who had made the big climb up the field into 12th. Josh Minor was in 13th at 7:43, with Philip White and R.J. Weiford in 14th and 15th, respectively, with the same time. Jacob Birurakis was in 16th at 7:44. Aaron Withrow and Coy Smith were in 17th and 18th, respectively, at 7:45. Jeremiah Parlock was in 19th at 7:48, and Clay Thorn rounded out the top 20 at 7:49.

I picked up some extra footage at about 1.85 miles. Seth Edwards was still trailed closely by Connor Riley with the pair passing at 9:42 and 9:43, respectively. Their lead over the rest of the field had increased to 6 seconds with Alex Minor and Geandre Jones both coming through in 9:49. They had completely gotten away from the rest of the field, passing in 10:00 and 10:01, respectively. Austin Jordan had moved up into 5th place at 10:00. Nick Salmons was in 6th at 10:01. Will Sheils was in 7th at 10:02. Daniel Beavers was running 8th in 10:03. Jonathan Hathaway held 9th at 10:06. Josh Greear had moved up to 10th at 10:07. Jon Sandy held a slight edge over teammate Jacob Birurakis for 11th with both at 10:10. Philip White was in 13th at 10:11. R.J. Weiford was running in 14th in 10:12. Josh Minor had a slight lead over Samuel Thomas with both passing at 10:13. Aaron Withrow was in 17th at 10:14. Coy Smith was in 18th at 10:15. Morgantown's Andrew Christy had moved into 19th at 10:16. Jeremiah Parlock was in 20th at 10:17.

At the two mile mark, Seth Edwards had started to assert himself, opening about a 3 second lead over Connor Riley. The times are estimated because I stayed too long at the 1.85 and missed the first 4 crossing the line. I estimate Edwards to have crossed at about 10:17 with Riley at about 10:20. Alex Minor and Geandre Jones remained together with an estimated time of 10:30. Austin Jordan remained in 5th at 10:42. Nick Salmons was in 6th at 10:44, with that time matched by Daniel Beavers in 7th. Well Sheils was in 8th at 10:46. Jonathan Hathaway held a slight lead over Josh Greear with both at 10:49. Philip White had moved up to 11th at 10:51. Jacob Birurakis was in 12th at 10:53. R.J. Weiford was just ahead of Jon Sandy with both at 10:54. Josh Minor was in 15th at 10:56. Aaron Withrow was in 16th at 10:57. Samuel Thomas was in 17th at 10:58. Coy Smith held a slight edge over Andrew Christy with both crossing at 11:00. Jeremiah Parlock was in 20th at 11:03.

Like last year, Seth Edwards put away the race over the final mile, stretching his lead to over 13 seconds and taking the win in 15:35. Connor Riley wasn't challenged for the 2nd spot with a 15:49. Geandre Jones pulled away from Alex Minor to take 3rd in 15:55. Alex Minor easily held the 4th position in 16:06. Daniel Beavers closed well to move into 5th with a 16:12. Nick Salmons led 4 straight Cabell Midland runners to the line with a 16:15. Austin Jordan was next through in 7th with a 16:16. Will Sheils was 8th in 16:24. Jonathan Hathaway was right behind in 9th with a 16:25. He just held off Jacob Birurakis, who moved up into the final podium spot and was just over half a second back. They just held off Josh Greear who was another half a second back in 16:26. Philip White finished 12th in 16:28 to make it 4 in for University. Jeremiah Parlock made the big move up the standings for Cabell Midland to finish in 16:33 and give Midland five of the top 13. Andrew Christy also moved up through the field over the last mile to finish in 14th with a 16:34. Aaron Withrow moved up to 15th also with a 16:34. R.J. Weiford came through in 16th in 16:37. Josh Minor finished 17th with a 16:44. Samuel Thomas was 18th in 16:45. Woodrow Wilson's Chris Barbera made it three freshmen in the top 20 with his 16:46 19th place finish. The top 20 was rounded out by Coy Smith who finished in 16:47, giving Cabell Midland all seven finishers inside the top 20.

In considering the MVP for the meet, I had to look at places where teams moved up the standing, and I obviously had to look at Cabell Midland's win. There were only two spots where teams moved up, that being Winfield moving up to 4th and Musselman moving up to 9th. Cabell Midland's biggest step forward came from Austin Jordan, but it wasn't enough to be "the" difference. Winfield had a mover that accounted for their difference, and their move was higher up the charts than Musselman's. So, in the end, I decided to go with Winfield's move. Winfield had a runner that I had picked 63rd and to only be his team's # 6. He moved up to his team's # 4 spot and picked up 11 team points along the way, which was the exact margin they had over Parkersburg. In the process, he passed a pair of Parkersburg runners. If he finishes where he was picked, Winfield loses the spot. For that reason, the 2015 RunWV MVP of the State Meet is Winfield's Luke Lumadue.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? The team places finished pretty much as expected with just the 4-5 and 9-10 teams switching places. Cabell Midland took the win, but University made it closer than expected. The individual picks went somewhat in the opposite direction of the girls picks. I started out bad and got better. Only 7 of the predicted top 10 finished in the top 10. But 13 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15, and 22 of the predicted top 25 finished in the top 25. On average, runners finished within 7.5 places of their predicted finish. The three who cracked the top 10 were Hedgesville's Daniel Beavers (picked 11th, got 5th), Cabell Midland's Austin Jordan (picked 12th, got 7th), and George Washington's Jacob Birurakis (picked 18th, got 10th). The three who moved into the top 25 were Morgantown's Andrew Christy (picked 30th, got 14th), Woodrow Wilson's Chris Barbera (picked 28th, got 19th), and Jefferson's Dylan Stamper (picked 31st, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Jefferson's Asher Personett who moved up 20 places from a predicted 64th place to an actual 44th place. From a team standpoint, it was Morgantown that had the best day, scoring 25 fewer points than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Cabell Midland boys. You sat atop the standings all season with targets on your backs, and when the day came, you methodically took care of business.

I offer my congratulations to Seth Edwards. Once again, you owned the end of the race. You know your strengths and run to them. You run within yourself and don't waver in the face of opposition. You don't let others take you out of you race.

I offer my congratulations to the boys who shook up the predictions. You prove what I try to tell people every year. Rankings and predictions don't mean anything. That's why we run the race.