The AAA Girls race opened the day's activities. With frost still on the ground in places, it was cool but with no wind and ample sun, a course that had mostly recovered from the rain during the week, and a strong field, conditions were prime for producing good times. This was expected to be a Morgantown victory, but with a chance of University defending their title yet again. Morgantown more than held up their end with a dominant victory, taking the top 3 spots and placing their front five inside the top 18. Individually, Lea Hatcher had control by the time they reached the top of the first hill, already 8 seconds out on everyone else at that point. She ran in clean air the rest of the way and crushed the course with a 17:24.

The first checkpoint is the top of the hill, which is about 0.7 miles into the race. Morgantown's Lea Hatcher was already well ahead of the field, coming through in a blistering 4:05. Morgantown's Athena Young was alone in 2nd place in 4:13. Irene Riggs made it three in a row for Morgantown, coming through in 4:20. Parkersburg's Madison Trippett was out well in 4th in 4:24 with University's Caroline Kirby trailing close behind in 4:25. Preston's Allie Martin had a slight lead for 6th in 4:28 with Hurricane's Audrey Hall in 7th in 4:29 and Wheeling Park's Isabella DiSaia in 8th in 4:30. Cabell Midland's Emma Jenkins was in 9th at 4:32. University's Zoe Shetty was in 10th in 4:39 with Preston's Chloe Stark matching that time in 11th. University's Emma Williams held a slight edge over Morgantown's Megan Weaver for 12th with both passing in 4:41. Buckhannon-Upshur's Cadence Vincent was in 14th in 4:42. Ripley's Haleigh McCune was holding 15th in 4:44. She was trailed closely by Hurricane's Asha Bora in 16th in 4:45. Musselman's Madison Gray held a slight lead over Cabell Midland's Tatum McKenna for 17th with both at 4:46. Hampshire's Danielle Davis was in 19th in 4:47 with University's Hermione Vos right on her heels with the same time.

At the mile mark, it was still Lea Hatcher in the lead at approximately 5:40. Athena Young continued in the 2nd spot at 5:46. Irene Riggs continued to hold 3rd in 5:56 as the three Mohigans continued pulling away from the field. Madison Trippett continued to hold a slight edge over Caroline Kirby for 4th with both at 6:03. Allie Martin held the 6th position in 6:10. Audrey Hall had a slight lead for the 7th spot in 6:15 with Emma Jenkins matching that time and moving into 8th and Isabella DiSaia just a second back in 6:16 in 9th. Zoe Shetty had a slight lead of Chloe Start for 10th with both at 6:22. Emma Williams was in 12th in 6:23. Megan Weaver remained in the 13th spot in 6:25. Tatum McKenna had moved up to 14th in 6:31, just ahead of Cadence Vincent with the same time. Asha Bora held a slight edge for 16th in 6:34. A very close battle for 17th saw 4 runners pass together at 6:35 with Haleigh McCune in 17th, Woodrow Wilson's Charlotte McGinnis up to 18th, Cabell Midland's Kate Meet in 19th, and Madison Gray in 20th.

The next checkpoint was at the WVU Extension service building at approximately 1.4 miles. This is the highest point on the course. Lea Hatcher continued to dominate, passing at approximately 8:15. Athena Young had moved further into control of 2nd at 8:22 and was keeping an even gap from Hatcher. Irene Riggs continued to assert her control over the 3rd spot, stretching that gap to 14 seconds at 8:38. Madison Trippett was in 4th at 8:52, opening an ever-so-slight lead on Caroline Kirby, who was in 5th at 8:53. Allie Martin remained in striking distance at 8:59. Emma Jenkins had moved into 7th in 9:08, just ahead of Audrey Hall in 8th at 9:09. Isabella DiSaia remained in 9th at 9:14 with Zoe Shetty closing in on her in 10th at 9:15. Emma Williams was in 11th at 9:18 with Chloe Stark in 12th at 9:21. Megan Weaver remained in control of 13th in 9:27. Tatum McKenna was still in the 14th spot at 9:29 with Hermione Vos moving up to 15th in 9:33. Cadence Vincent was in 16th at 9:35. Charlotte McGinnis had move into the 17th spot in 9:36, just ahead of Asha Bora in 18th with the same time. Collette Lindley was in 19th at 9:39. Haleigh McCune was holding onto 20th in 9:40.

At my bonus footage area at around 1.85 miles, I didn't get much because the leaders had moved so far ahead. Lea Hatcher passed in about 10:41 with Athena Young still in 2nd at 10:51 and Irene Riggs still in 3rd.

At the two mile mark, Lea Hatcher remained in firm control of the lead at 11:29. Athena Young remained 10 seconds back in 11:39. Irene Riggs was all alone in 3rd at 12:07. Madison Trippett continued to hold a slight lead over Caroline Kirby for 4th, 12:27 to 12:28. Allie Martin was in 6th in 12:38. Emma Jenkins had opened a gap for the 7th spot coming through in 12:51 to Audrey Hall's 12:54 in 8th. Zoe Shetty was closing in on Hall coming through in 12:56 in 9th. Emma Williams had moved into 10th in 13:02, just ahead of Isabella DiSaia in 11th at 13:03. Chloe Stark remained in 12th in 13:10. Tatum McKenna had moved into 13th in 13:16. Charlotte McGinnis had continued her move up the field into 14th in 13:24, just ahead of Megan Weaver, who matched that time in 15th. Hermione Vos was in 16th in 13:25. Asha Bora was back up to 17th in 13:29 with Cadence Vincent in 18th in 13:31. Collette Lindley remained in 19th in 13:34 with Morgantown's Amelia Haddox moving into 20th in 13:35.

Coming onto the track, it was remained Lea Hatcher all alone, and she sped to a stellar 17:24 finishing time. Athena Young ran a truly excellent race for 2nd in 17:34. Irene Riggs easily held the 3rd position in 18:14. Madison Trippett pulled away to control the 4th spot in 18:46 with Caroline Kirby easily holding the 5th position in 18:57. Allie Martin was unthreatened in 6th at 19:08. Emma Jenkins pulled away in the 7th spot in 19:25. Audrey Hall held firm control of the 8th spot in 19:36. Zoe Shetty outkicked teammmate Emma Williams for 9th 19:44 to 19:45 with the pair taking the final podium spots. Chloe Stark was 11th in 19:50. Tatum McKenna closed well for 12th in 19:54. Charlotte McGinnis moved up to 13th in 20:08 with Hermione Vos picking up a couple spots in the last mile to get 14th in 20:11. Megan Weaver was 15th in 20:15. Asha Bora moved into the 16th spot in 20:23. Preston's Abby Nolan made a nice move over the final mile to rise from 23rd to a 17th place finish in 20:25. Amela Haddox moved up to 18th in 20:27. Preston's Lia Jennings gave them two late risers as she moved up to 18th in 20:31. Cadence Vincent just moved back into the 20th spot right before the line in 20:34.

The team standings really went pretty much according to plan with no team moving up more than one position and the top 3 going according to plan. That makes MVP selection a bit difficult. Morgantown won pretty handily, and their non-scorers were pretty close to their scorer's so no one's move was particularly important. 2nd and 3rd were also both pretty alone in their spots. First, let me give a little acknowledgement to the excellent race put forth by Morgantown's Megan Weaver, who would take this award hands down if the meet had been remotely close. But, Morgantown still wins by over 15 if she doesn't have that great race. That leaves me with our 4-5 switch. Cabell Midland had one move that was particularly important. It wasn't a big move, only 9 spots and only 7 team points, but if she finishes where predicted, that 4-5 match becomes a tie, and they lose the spot on a tie-breaker. For that step up, in an area in which it's tough to make a big move up the charts, the RunWV MVP for the 2019 State Meet is Cabell Midland's Tatum McKenna.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was a pretty solid set. I got the team champion and the top 3 all right, and only one team varied in place by more than one spot. I also got the individual champion (is there anyone that didn't?) and got 9 of the top 10, 12 of the top 15, and 21 of the top 25. The athlete who moved into a podium spot was University's Emma Williams (picked 12th, got 10th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Morgantown's Megan Weaver (picked 37th, got 15th), Morgantown's Amelia Haddox (picked 29th, got 18th), Preston's Lia Jennings (picked 32nd, got 19th), and Ripley's Haleigh McCune (picked 31st, got 24th). The big mover of the meet was Morgantown's Megan Weaver who moved up 22 spots from her predicted 37th place finish to her actual 15th place finish. From a team standpoint, the biggest point improvement came from Hampshire. While it only moved them up one spot, they scored 44 fewer points than was predicted. On average, runners finished within 8.91 places of there they were predicted (which is about double last year).

I offer my congratulations to the Morgantown girls. You proved that earlier meets were just a taste of what you could do. You were dominant and easily handled a strong challenger. You took the top 3 spots and put 5 in the top 20, and scored a team average of 18:47. Simply outstanding!

I offer my congratulations to Lea Hatcher. You have definitely elevated your game. You took control early and never looked back. How much faster could you have gone? I wish we had gotten the opportunity to find out. I imagine you will be heading to Nike or Footlocker (recent history would say Nike), and you certainly appear to have a strong chance to join a short list of National qualifiers from West Virginia.

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 do not determine the finish. You determine the finish.