The morning session closed with the AAA Boys Race. Temperatures had started to decline a bit, and we were still dealing with on and off (mostly on) rain. Morgantown was expected to run away with the team title, and they did not disappoint, winning by a whopping 44 points. Individually, it was to be a fight between Woodrow Wilson's Chris Barbera and University's Philip White. That didn't really materialize as Barbera started to pull away shortly before the halfway point and continued to pull away to the 16 second win.

My first checkpoint was the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. University's Philip White was in the front in 3:42 with Woodrow Wilson's Chris Barbera in 2nd at 3:43. That time was matched by teammate Ryan Vaught, who also passed in 3:43. George Washington's Jacob Birurakis was in 4th in 3:44 with that time being matched by Preston's Ward Ries, Parkersburg's Ian Domenick, and Preston's Cole Friend in 5th through 7th, respectively. Woodrow Wilson's Mile Kominsky was in 8th at 3:48 with that time matched by Cabell Midland's Brett Armbruster in 9th. 10th was held by Hurricane's Justin Belcher at 3:50. Morgantown's Kevin Donnelly was in 11th at 3:52. Morgantown's Andrew Christy held a slight lead on University's Michael Gharib for 12th with both at 3:53. Morgantown's Mikael Virji was in 14th in 3:54 with Parkersburg's Benjamin Lake matching that time in 15th. University's Nick Summerlin was in 16th in 3:55 with Hurricane's Brian Middaugh and Cabell Midland's Steven Ball matching that time. Morgantown's Andrew Jones and Gideon Temple held 19th and 20th, respectively with both at 3:56.

At the mle Mark, things were still quite close. Chris Barbera had moved into a slight lead at 5:10, but also crossing at 5:10 were Philip White and Ryan Vaught. Ian Domenick was in 4th at 5:11 with Jacob Birurakis also at 5:11 in 5th. Ward Ries was in 6th at 5:13. Cole Friend was in 7th in 5:15. Justin Belcher was up to 8th in 5:18. Brett Armbruster was in 9th at 5:20 with Mile Kominsky matching that time in 10th. Michael Gharib led a close group through in 5:22, trailed by Andrew Christy and Kevin Donnelly. Mikael Virji was in 14th in 5:24. A foursome passed in 5:25 with Andrew Jones, Brian Middaugh, Gideon Temple, and Benjamin Lake holding the spots. Steven Ball was in 19th in 5:26. Nick Summerlin was in 20th in 5:27. At this point, Morgantown has no one in the top 10, but has 5 in the top 17 with a 1-5 spread of 3 seconds.

At the top of the hill at the WVU Extension Service Building, which is the highest point on the course, separation was starting to occur. Chris Barbera was now alone in the lead at 7:28. Philip White was alone in 2nd at 7:30. Ryan Vaught was alone in 3rd at 7:33. Those three had started getting away from the rest. Jacob Birurakis had moved back into 4th in 7:37. Ian Domenick was in 5th in 7:38. Ward Ries was holding 6th in 7:39. Cole Friend remained in 7th in 7:41. Andrew Christy had made a move up to 8th in 7:48 with Michael Gharib matching that time in 9th. Andrew Jones had made a big move into 10th at 7:49 with Justin Belcher matching that time in 11th. Mikael Virji had moved into 12th in 7:50, just ahead of Kevin Donnelly and Gideon Temple with the same time. Morgantown now hold 5 of the top 14 with a 1-5 spread of 2 seconds. Mile Kominsky was in 15th in 7:51 with that time matched by Brett Armbruster. Steven Ball was up to 17th in 7:57. Hurricane's Chase Basham had moved into 18th in 7:59. Brian Middaugh was in 19th in 8:00. Benjamin Lake was in 20th in 8:01.

I picked up some extra footage at about 1.85 miles. Chris Barbera had extended his lead to 5 seconds, passing in 9:45. Philip White was next through in 9:50. Barbera made a quick grab of his side as he passed, leaving open the possibility that he could slow over the remainder of the course. Ryan Vaught remained in 3rd in 9:54. Jacob Birurakis had gained control of 4th in 9:58. Ward Ries had moved back into 5th in 10:02. Ian Domenick matched that in 6th. Cole Friend remained in 7th at 10:04. Andrew Christy remained in 8th at 10:10. Gideon Temple had moved into 9th in 10:11. Mikael Virji was in 10th in 10:13 with Andrew Jones matching that time. Michael Gharib was close behind in 12th in 10:14. Justin Belcher was in 13th and Kevin Donnelly was in 14th.

At the two mile mark, Chris Barbera had continued to extend his lead a little, coming through in 10:27. Philip White was in 2nd at 10:33 but had been unable to shake Ryan Vaught, who came through in 10:35. Jacob Birurakis continued to hold 4th in 10:42. Ware Ries remained in 5th in 10:46. Ian Domenick remained right on his heels in 10:47. Cole Friend was 7th in 10:50. Andrew Christy remained in 8th and was starting to close just a little, coming through in 10:55. Gideon Temple was in 9th in 10:47. Andrew Jones was in 10th in 10:59 with Mikael Virji matching that in 11th. Kevin Donnelly was in 12th in 11:00 with Michael Gharib matching that time. At this point, Morgantown held spots 8-12 with just a 5 second spread. Incredible pack running. Justin Belcher was in 14th in 11:01. Brett Armbruster was in 15th in 11:09 with Mile Kominsky in 16th at 11:10. Chase Basham was 17th in 11:14 with Steven Ball matching that time. Morgantown's Michael Hoefler had moved into 19th in 11:17, giving Morgantown 6 of the top 20 at this point. Brian Middaugh held the 20th spot in 11:19.

As in the girls race, the rain started picking back up as the race was coming to a close. Coming onto the track, Chris Barbera had taken full control. Whatever the side grab was at 1.85, it meant nothing as he more than doubled his lead over the final mile to finish in 15:38. Philip White finally pulled away from Ryan Vaught to secure 2nd in 15:54. Ryan Vaught easily held the 3rd position in 16:01. Jacob Birurakis continued to pull away to keep 4th in 16:11. Ward Ries got away from Ian Domenick on the track to take the 5th position in 16:15. Domenick held the 6th spot in 16:19. Andrew Christy used a strong last mile to move into 7th in 16:22. Cole Friend held the 8th spot in 16:25. Gideon Temple claimed the 9th position in 16:29. Andrew Jones took the final podium spot in 16:34 giving Morgantown 3 of the top 10. But they weren't done. Kevin Donnelly moved back into 11th to finish in 16:38 with Mikael Virji in 12th in 16:39. Morgantown puts 5 in the top 12, another year of domination. Justin Belcher takes 13th in 16:43. Michael Gharib gets 14th in 16:47. Brett Armbruster held the 15th spot in 16:54. Miles Kominsky outkicked Chase Basham to the line to take 16th in 16:59 to Basham's 17:00. Steven Ball was right behind as well in 18th in 17:01. Michael Hoefler was right there also in 17:02. Brian Middaugh rounded out the top 20 in 17:05.

In considering the MVP for the meet, it's not always the athlete that moves your team up a spot that is important. Sometimes, it's the athlete that helps keep you where you were. I did take a look at Jefferson, as they finished 8th after being picked 12th. I looked at Woodrow Wilson as they moved from 4th to 3rd. Ultimately, though, the State Meet is about getting on the podium, and Hurricane had a guy that made sure they did just that. They only beat Woodrow Wilson by 7 points. I had picked this guy 28th. He didn't move up a ton, just 11 spots. But if he had finished 28th as predicted, Hurricane would have missed the podium by a point. It wasn't a big move, but it was a very important one. For this performance, the 2017 RunWV MVP of the State Meet goes to Hurricane's Chase Basham.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? This was another pretty strong set. I got the team shampion correct. 3rd and 4th switched places, then everyone stayed as projected through 7th. Jefferson made the big move up to 8th from their predicted 12th place finish. The others stayed in order, just one place behind where predicted. I'll give a special nod to Cabell Midland for holding the 4th position even without their 1.5 (I'll call him 1.5 because sometimes he's 1, sometimes he's 2) runner. Individually, I did get the champion correct, and 9 of the predicted top 10 finished in the top 10. 13 of the predicted top 15 finished in the top 15, and 22 of the top 25 finished in the top 25. On average, runners finished with 7.74 places of their predicted finish, which is significantly better than last years dismal average. The runner who cracked the top 10 was Morgantown's Gideon Temple (picked 15th, got 9th). Those who climbed into the top 25 were Hurricane's Chase Basham (picked 28th, got 17th), Cabell Midland's Steven Ball (picked 36th, got 18th), and Hurricane's John Casey (picked 29th, got 22nd). The big mover of the day was Cabell Midland's Sean Marcum, who moved up 31 spots from a predicted 68th place to an actual 37th place. team standpoint, the best day was had by Jefferson, who scored a whopping 72 points fewer than they were predicted. From a team standpoint, it was Jefferson scoring 47 points better than predicted who had the best day.

I offer my congratulations to the Morgantown boys. You followed up last year's dominating win with another dominating win. People were gunning for you all year, and they couldn't touch you. Hurricane put 5 in the top 22 and it still wasn't even close as you put 5 in before their first. It was packing running at its finest.

I offer my congratulations to Chris Barbera. You put aside last year's disappointment, and ran away from the field. You were strong throughout and gradually and continually pulled away in the 2nd half. It was a great close to an excellent season.

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.