The Class A-AA Boys closed the day's festivities. Outstanding racing weather remained with occasional wind. A reasonably close team battle was expected to occur between Bridgeport and Fairmont Senior. And it was reasonably close, but Fairmont Senior really hit on pretty much all cylinders to take the win by 10 points. Ritchie wasn't seriously threatened for the Class A title. Individually, it was expected to be Ethan Kincell with Carter Lipscomb having a shot. Those two came through for the top two spots, but they certainly didn't run away with it as they had pretty much every other meet. In the end, Kincell again pulled away late to take the win by about 3.5 seconds.

My first checkpoint was at the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. Doddridge's Carter Lipscomb led a tight pack through in 3:52 with Fairmont Senior's Ethan Kincell and Winfield's Matthew Scheneberg matching that time in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Philip Barbour's Noah Ward was in 4th in 3:53 after staking the early lead. Bridgeport's Cade Robinson, Bridgeport's Jackson Jacobs, and Fairmont Senior's Tyler Hayes matched that time in the 5th through 7th spots. Frankfort's Garrett Ferguson was in 8th at 3:54 with Ritchie's Kent Bee matching that time in 9th. Fairmont Senior's Logan Zuchelli was in the 10th spot in 3:56. Tyler Consolidated's Spencer Corley was running 11th in 3:57. Nicholas' Preston Prather led a tight pack for 12th through in 3:59. Fairmont Senior's Jasper Brown was in the 13th spot, and Bridgeport's Bailey DeMoss was in 14th, both matching that 3:59 time. Oak Glen's Konnor Allison was in 15th at 4:00 with Ritchie's Zyan Hardbarger in 16th with the same time. Ritchie's Brady Layman was in 17th at 4:01 with Nitro's Colin Simmons in 18th also at 4:01. Winfield's Will Whaley was in 19th at 4:02 with that time being matched by Elkins' Lucas Anger in 20th.

At the mile mark, it remained a tight race with Carter Lipscomb still holding a slight edge over Ethan Kincell with both at 5:20 and Matthew Scheneberg still right on top of them at 5:21. Tyler Hayes had moved into 4th at 5:23 with Logan Zuchelli moving up to 5th in the same time. Jackson Jacobs was in 6th, Cade Robinson in 7th, Kent Bee in 8th, and Garrett Ferguson in 9th with all coming through in 5:24. Noah Ward was in 10th in 5:25. Spencer Corley remained in 11th at 5:27. Jasper Brown was in 12th at 5:29 with Bailey DeMoss matchign that time in 13th. Konnor Allison was in 14th at 5:30 with Preston Prather also coming through at 5:30. South Harrison's Carter Bowie had moved into 16th in 5:32 with Lewis' Jacob Moore moving into 17th in the same time. Zyan Hardbarger was in 18th at 5:34 with Bridgeport's Trey Martin and Frankfort's Evan Pyles matching that time in 19th and 20th, respectively.

At the Extension Service Building at about 1.4 miles, which is the highest point on the course, Carter Lipscomb had opened a small lead, coming through in 7:43 with Ethan Kincell not far back in 7:45. Tyler Hayes had moved into 3rd in 7:48. Logan Zuchelli was in 4th at 7:49 with Jackson Jacobs, Matthew Scheneberg, and Cade Robinson coming through in short order behind him, all passing at 7:49. Garrett Ferguson was in 8th in 7:52. Kent Bee was in 9th at 7:53. Noah Ward was in the 10th spot in 7:58. Spencer Corley remained in 11th in 8:01. Bailey DeMoss was up to 12th in 8:02. Konnor Allison had a slight lead over Jasper Brown for 13th with both at 8:05. Zyan Hardbarger held a slim lead over Carter Bowie for 15th in 8:06. Jacob Moore and Trey Martin held the 17th and 18th spots in 8:07. Evan Pyles was in 19th at 8:08, and Frankfort's Xander Shoemake was up to 20th in 8:10.

I got a little bonus footage at about 1.85 miles. Carter Lipscomb remained in the lead, but the small gap he had generated over Kincell was gone as Kincell was right on his shoulder with both passing at 10:04. There was a 3-way battle for 3rd with Logan Zuchelli now holding the spot, but with Tyler Hayes and Jackson Jacobs matching his time at 10:11. Cade Robinson had moved into 6th at 10:13. Matthew Scheneberg was in 7th at 10:16. Garrett Ferguson was in 8th at 10:20. Kent Bee was in 9th at 10:22, and Noah Ward remained in 10th.

At the two mile mark, Ethan Kincell had moved into a slight lead over Carter Lipscomb but with both at 10:48. Logan Zuchelli was in 3rd at 10:54. Jackson Jacobs was in 4th and Tyler Hayes was in 5th with both at 10:55. Cade Robinson was pulling away in the 6th spot in 10:57. Matthew Scheneberg remained in 7th in 11:03. Garrett Ferguson was in 8th in 11:05. Kent Bee remained in 9th in 11:09. Noah Ward was still in 10th at 11:14. Bailey DeMoss was up to 11th in 11:18. Jacob Moore had moved up significantly into 12th in 11:21. Konnor Allison matched his time in 13th. Jasper Brown was in 14th in 11:22. Trey Martin was up to 15th in 11:23 giving both Fairmont Senior and Bridgeport 4 in the top 15 at this point. Carter Bowie was in 16th at 11:24. Xander Shoemake had moved up to 17th in 11:25 with Evan Pyles matching that time in 18th. Spencer Corley was in 19th at 11:26, and Zyan Hardbarger was in 20th in 11:27.

Coming onto the track, it was Ethan Kincell with a small, but noticeable lead. Carter Lipscomb came onto the track in 2nd with Jackson Jacobs and Logan Zuchelli right on his heels. Those positions would hold all the way on the track with Kincell taking the win in 16:20. Lipscomb kept the 2nd spot in 16:24 with Jacobs in 3rd at 16:25 and Zuchelli in 4th at 16:26. Cade Robinson moved solidly into the 5th position in 16:31. Garrett Ferguson closed well to move up to 6th in 16:50. Bailey DeMoss used a strong last mile to move all the way up to 7th in 16:53, getting the last spot just before the line. Tyler Hayes was 8th, also at 16:53. Noah Ward fought back to 9th in 16:54 with Kent Bee also clocking at 16:54 for 10th and final podium position, just holding off Jacob Moore, who was 11th in 16:55. Matthew Scheneberg was 12th in 16:57. Xander Shoemake used a strong final mile to move into 13th in 17:03. Konnor Allison was 14th in 17:09. Evan Pyles took the 15th spot in 17:15. Jasper Brown just got past Carter Bowie for 16th with Brown in 17:15 and Bowie in 17:16. Zyan Hardbarger squeezed past Trey Martin for 18th at the line with both at 17:29. Frankfort's Anthony Sanders made a late pass to move into the 20th spot in 17:30.

When you pull off an upset for the win, even if only a slight upset, it's obvious that this is the first place to look for an MVP. The problem is...I didn't find one. I found two. Both made moves that were significant enough to have won the meet. If either finishes where they were predicted, Fairmont Senior loses to Bridgeport (one on a tie-breaker). So, what do I do? It's tough, but I guess I will go with the one that moved up the most. First, I'll give mention to Jasper Brown. After a disastrous regional meet, it was hard to know what to expect, but he ran great. But the bigger move was made by the guy who was predicted to finish 43rd and moved up to 26th and picked up 12 points along the way. For that move, the 2019 RunWV MVP is Fairmont Senior's Alex Morris.

So, how did RunWV do on the predictions. It was a so-so showing. I missed out on the team champion, but I knew that was a very real possibility. I did get the Class A champion. Only 4 of the 22 teams finished more than one spot off where they were picked. Individually, I got 9 of the top 10, 12 of the top 15, but only 19 of the top 25. On average, runners finished 10.89 places of their predicted finish. That's a little worse than last year, but with a field of 170 runners, I guess that isn't too bad. The runner who moved onto the podium was Bridgeport's Bailey DeMoss (picked 15th, got 7th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Frankfort's Xander Shoemake (picked 37th, got 13th), Fairmont Senior's Jasper Brown (picked 28th, got 16th), Frankfort's Anthony Sanders (picked 42nd, got 20th), Clay-Battelle's Chase Ammons (picked 36th, got 22nd), Ritchie's Brady Layman (picked 32nd, got 23rd), and PikeView's Braden Ward (picked 27th, got 24th). The big movers of the meet were Frankfort's Peyton Slider (picked 96th, got 63rd) and St. Marys' Trey Cummings (picked 153rd, got 120th), who each moved up 33 spots. The team that improved their score the most was Clay-Battelle, who scored 50 fewer points than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Fairmont Senior boys. You lost your top two runners from last year's championship team and managed to come back even stronger. You came into the meet with a chip on your shoulder after not getting picked to win it and you ran your guts out. You got great performances pretty much across the board. You ran strong and with determination, and it got you the repeat win.

I offer my congratulations to the Ritchie boys. You were the favorite, but you had a foe that had knocked you off a couple times. You would not be deterred, though, and took the solid win. With one runner beset by illness, you got the step-up performances you needed to secure the win.

I offer my congratulations to Ethan Kincell. You showed what can happen when an athlete with good talent decides to get serious about his training. You were 24th a year ago, and 12 guys that beat you in that meet were back this year. None of them beat you this year. It was a great season and was capped appropriately atop the podium.