The A-AA Girls closed the morning session. The rain had subsided but did fall briefly later in the race. As expected, Winfield took home the team title, and it was not close. Williamstown won the Class A title by a large margin. Individually, the expected 4-way battle did not materialize as Williamstown's Ella Hesson pulled away over the second half of the race to win by 17 seconds.

My first checkpoint was again the top of the hill at approximately 0.7 miles. Williamstown's Ella Hesson had a slight lead over Bridgeport's Julia Muller with both coming through in 4:32. Close behind at 4:33 were East Fairmont's Erykah Christopher and PikeView's Erin O'Sullivan. Winfield's Baylee Adkins was in 5th in 4:34. Winfield's Grace Cole was in 6th at 4:36. Doddridge's Desirae Schoonover was in 7th at 4:38. Bridgeport's Emma Campbell was in 8th in 4:42. Buffalo's Sydney Smith had a slight lead over Charleston Catholic's Aubrie Custer for 9th with both passing in 4:44. East Fairmont's Courtney Eddy was in 11th at 4:45. Berkeley Springs' Belle Harvey was in 12th at 4:47. Williamstown's Natalie Sawin had a slight edge over Ritchie's Gwyn Napier for 13th in 4:48. Winfield's Savannah Hoff was in 15th in 4:49, trailed very closely by St. Joseph's McKenzie Moran with both at 4:50. St. Marys' Erica Davis was in 17th at 4:51. Fairmont Senior's Carlina Jacquez was just ahead of Philip Barbour's Olivia Frye for 18th with both passing in 4:52. Fairmont Senior's Mackenzie Stanley was in 20th at 4:53.

At the mile mark, it was still tight with Julia Muller now holding a slight lead over Ella Hesson at 6:19. Just off their back but with the same time was now Baylee Adkins. Erykah Christopher was in 4th at 6:21 with Erin O'Sullivan in 5th at 6:23. Desirae Schoonover was in 6th at 6:29. Aubrie Custer had moved up to 7th in 6:30 with that time matched by Emma Campbell in 8th. Grace Cole was in 9th in 6:31. Belle Harvey had moved into the top 10 at 6:34. Sydney Smith was in 11th in 6:36 wit that time matched by Courtney Eddy in 12th. Natalie Sawin was in 13th in 6:37, just ahead of Savannah Hoff with the same time. Winfield's Sarah Lipscomb had moved into 15th in 6:39 with Carlina Jacquez matching that time in 16th. McKenzie Moran was in 17th in 6:40 with Gwyn Napier matching that time in 18th. Olivia Frye was in 19th at 6:43, and Tucker's Kate Falls rounded out the top 20 at 6:44.

At the top of the hill near the Extension Service building, the highest point on the course at approximately 1.4 miles, things were still tight at the front. Hesson had just taken the lead over Muller, passing at 9:19 to Muller's 9:20. Baylee Adkins was still sticking close in 3rd at 9:21 with Erykah Christopher in 4th at 9:22. Belle Harvey had made a big move into 5th in 9:31. Erin O'Sullivan was in 6th, just ahead of Aubrie Custer with both at 9:33. Emma Campbell was right behind in 8th in 9:34. Desirae Schoonover was holding 9th in 9:37. Natalie Sawin had moved up to 10th in 9:41. Grace Cole was in 11th with Savannah Hoff in 12th and both at 9:44. Courtney Eddy was in 13th in 9:46. Sarah Lipscomb was in 14th in 9:48. McKenzie Moran awas up to 15th in 9:49, just ahead of Carlina Jacquez with the same time. Gwyn Napier was in 17th at 9:53. Olivia Frye was in 18th in 9:55. Sydney Smith was running 19th in 9:58, and Bridgeport's Emerson Grafton was in the 20th spot at 10:01.

I got a little bonus footage at about 1.85 miles. At this point, Ella Hesson had made a decisive move into the lead, coming by in 12:06. Julia Muller was still in 2nd, but a 6 second gap had been created with Muller passing in 12:12. Baylee Adkins was still right on her heels at 12:13. Erykah Christopher had lost contact with them but still had firm control of 4th in 12:19. Belle Harvey had extended her hold on 5th place, coming through in 12:27. Aubrie Custer was up to 6th in 12:32 with Emma Campbell close behind in 12:33. Desirae Schoonover was in 8th at 12:40 with Natalie Sawin now up to 9th and closing in 12:41. Erin O'Sullivan was in 10th in 12:42.

At the two mile mark, Ella Hesson had continued to push out her lead, coming through right at 13:00. Julia Muller was still in 2nd at 13:09 and had started to edge a bit away from Baylee Adkins in 3rd at 13:11. Erykah Christopher remained in 4th at 13:14. Belle Harvey was still holding 5th in 13:22. Aubrie Custer still held the 6th spot in 13:28 with Emma Campbell in 7th in 13:30. Natalie Sawin had made the pass into 8th in 13:36. Desirae Schoonover was in 9th at 13:37. Erin O'Sullivan remained in 10th in 13:40. Courtney Eddy had moved back into 11th in 13:47 with Grace Cole matching that time in 12th. Savannah Hoff was in 13th at 13:50 with McKenzie Moran moving up to 14th in 13:51. Sarah Lipscomb was in 15th at 13:55. Carlina Jacquez was holding 16th at 13:57. Olivia Frye had moved into 17th at 14:00. Gwyn Napier was in 18th at 14:02. Erica Davis had a slight edge over Emerson Grafton for 19th with both passing at 14:10.

Coming onto the track, Ella Hesson had further stretched her lead, nearly doubling her gap over the final mile and crossing the finish line at 19:25. Julia Muller took control of the 2nd spot over the final mile to finish in 19:42. Baylee Adkins had fallen to 4th but retook the 3rd spot on the track and finished in 19:56. Belle Harvey continued her race-long push toward the front to briefly take the 3rd spot before settling for 4th in 19:58. Erykah Christopher held onto the 5th position in 20:11. Natalie Sawin moved up to 6th in the final mile to finish in 20:14 with Aubrie Custer in 7th at 20:17. Erin O'Sullivan battled back into the 8th position, finishing in 20:21. Emma Campbell finished off her excellent run in 9th in 20;31. Desirae Schoonover held the final podium position in 20:39. McKenzie Moran closed well to move up to 11th in 20:51. Winfield took the next three spots with Grace Cole in 20:52, Sarah Lipscomb in 20:55, and Savannah Hoff also in 20:55, giving them four of the top 14. Courtney Eddy held the 15th spot in 20:56. Olivia Frye was 16th in 21:00. Erica Davis finished strong to move up to 17th in 21:07. Carlina Jacquez was 18th in 21:08. Gwyn Napier held 19th in 21:13. Fairmont Senior's Sophia Tomana closed well to move into the top 20, finishing in 21:17.

In searching for the MVP, I had to dig around a little. Winfield won it, so you have to look there, but they won by so much, there wasn't really a one thing that made a difference. Williamstown won Class A, so I look there as well, but it's pretty much the same situation. 2nd in each division went as expected as well. It was very close between 2nd and 3rd overall, so I did have to look there. Both teams made the podium anyway and would have if the places had been reversed. Only one team went up the standings more than one spot, and that was Berkeley Springs going from 6th to 4th, so I look there as well, but it wasn't one single thing that made them move up 2 spots. My mind keeps going back to something, so I guess I'll go with it. This runner only moved up 6 spots from her predicted finish, but it was a big 6. It preserved 2nd overall for her team as she would have lost 5 team points had she finished where predicted and lost the spot to Williamstown. So, for the 2018 RunWV MVP, I have selected Bridgeport's Emma Campbell.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? Pretty darn good. I got both team champions and both team runners-up. Only two teams moved more than one spot up or down the charts. Individually, I didn't get the winner right, but I did get 9 of the top 10, 13 of the top 15, and 23 of the top 25. On average, runners finished within 6.74 spots of their predicted place, which is over a spot better than last year's average. The one who moved onto the podium was Bridgeport's Emman Campbell (picked 15th, got 9th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Bridgeport's Emerson Grafton (picked 27th, got 21st) and Winfield's Isabella Robinson (picked 28th, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Berkeley Springs' Hannah Moran who moved up a massive 37 spots from a predicted finish of 65th to an actual finish of 28th. From a team standpoint, the best day was had by Berkeley Springs who scored 49 fewer points than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Winfield girls. You were the favorite and had the target on your backs after winning last year, and you did not falter. You came to the State Meet and took care of your business.

I offer my congratulations to the Williamstown girls. There wasn't much doubt about this, but you came in and did what you had to do. No one had a let down or took for granted that someone else would take care of things for them. You were steady all season long and at the State Meet.

I offer my congratulations to Ella Hesson. I knew you'd have a shot, and I thought it would be close, but you didn't allow that to happen. You dominated over the 2nd half of the race and took anyone else's possible kick out of the equation. It was a great finish to a strong 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 don't mean a thing. That's why we run the race.