The Class A Boys closed the opening session. The fog had cleared, and the temperature had risen a bit. A close team battle was expected between Doddridge and Ritchie, and it was Ritchie who would come out on top, using their depth to overcome Doddridge in the 2nd half of the race. Individually, Carter Lipscomb was expected to run away with things, and that is exactly what he did, taking the win by 1:26. Teammate Trent Gola made a late pass to give Doddridge a 1-2 finish.

My first checkpoint was at the top of the hill which is about 0.7 miles into the race. As seems to happen at least once a year, my watch bounced of something running to the spot and shut off, so I don't have times at this spot. Times at the other spots may be off a little as I calibrated my watch with the clock at the 2 mile mark. Doddridge's Carter Lipscomb had already moved into a strong lead. Wheeling Central's Aidan Scott was alone in 2nd place. Coming through 4 seconds later was Doddridge's Trent Gola in 3rd. He was trailed closely by Clay-Battelle's Holden Ammons and South Harrison's Carter Bowie one more second back. In 6th place another second back was Richwood's Trey Stanley. Ritchie's Brady Layman was in 7th another second back. Three more came through another second back with Wirt's A.J. Petrovsky in 8th, Williamstown's Zach Cannon in 9th, and Notre Dame's Ashton Nardella in 10th. Three more came through another second back with Williamstown's Dawson Winsett in 11th, Doddridge's Brennan Miller in 12th, and Wood County Christian's Michael Cline in 13th. Tyler Consolidated's Haygen Baker was in 14th, 2 more seconds behind. Ritchie's Creed Knight was in 15th another second back with his time being matched by Ritchie's Heath Knight. Spots 16-20 all came through another second behind with Buffalo's Patrick Reilly in 17th, Webster's Devan Lawson in 18th, Doddridge's William Atkinson in 19th, and Sherman's Andrea Skeens in 20th.

At the mile mark, Carter Lipscomb had extended his lead to 16 seconds, coming through at 5:10. Aidan Scott had extended his control of 2nd at 5:26. Carter Bowie had a slight edge over Trent Gola for 3rd with both coming through in 5:38. Holden Ammons was in 5th at 5:40. Trey Stanley remained in 6th at 5:42. Brady Layman was still in the 7th spot in 5:44. A.J. Petrovsky remained in 8th at 5:45. Three came through in 5:46 with Zach Cannon in 9th, Haygen Baker in 10th, and Dawson Winsett in 11th. Ashton Nardella was in 12th at 5:47. Michael Cline was 13th in 5:49. Brennan Miller was in 14th in 5:50. Heather Knight was in 15th in 5:52 with that time being matched by Patrick Reilly in 16th, Andrea Skeens in 17th and William Atkinson in 18th. Ritchie's Isaac Slater had moved into 19th at 5:53. Creed Knight was in in 20th, also at 5:53.

At the Extension Service Building at about 1.4 miles, which is the highest point on the course, I again missed Carter Lipscomb on the video, but he had stretched his lead out to about 35 seconds at 7:35 (estimated). Aidan Scott continued to hold control of 2nd at 8:10. Trent Gola had moved back into 3rd at 8:23 with Carter Bowie closed behind at 8:24. Holden Ammons was in 5th at 8:27. Trey Stanley remained in 6th in 8:29. Dawson Winsett had made a move up to 7th in 8:31. Haygen Baker was up to 8th in 8:33. Brady Layman matched that time in 9th. Zach Cannon was in 10th at 8:34. A.J. Petrovsky was in 11th at 8:35 with Ashton Nardella matching that time in 12th. Michael Cline was in 13th at 8:36. Brennan Miller was in 14th at 8:39. Isaac Slater was up to 15th in 8:40. Andrea Skeens had moved up to 16th in 8:42. Patrick Reilly was in 17th in 8:44. Heath Knight was back up to 18th in 8:45. Ravenswood's Cade Curfman had moved into the 19th spot with the same time. Creed Knight was in 20th at 8:46.

At the two mile mark, Carter Lipscomb had pushed his lead out to almost a minute, coming through in 10:27. Aidan Scott remained in 2nd at 11:26. Trent Gola had opened a small gap to take control of 3rd and was closing on Scott at 11:31. Carter Bowie was in the 4th spot at 11:34. Trey Stanley had a slight edge over Holden Ammons for 5th with both at 11:42. Dawson Winsett remained in 7th at 11:47 with that time matched by Haygen Baker and Zach Cannon in 8th and 9th, respectively. Brady Layman was in 10th at 11:48 with that time matched by Isaac Slater who had moved up to 11th. Michael Cline was up to 12th in 11:49. Ashton Nardella was in 13th at 11:51. A.J. Petrovsky was in 14th at 11:52. Andrea Skeens was up to 15th in 11:58. Brennan Miller was in 16th at 12:00. Cade Curfman was up to 17th at 12:04 with Patrick Reilly matching that time in 18th. Creed Knight was in 19th at 12:08 with Heath Knight matching that time in 20th.

Coming onto the track, Carter Lipscomb was all alone and powered away for the win in a strong 15:57. He finished before anyone else came onto the track. The next one onto the track was Trent Gola who had made a strong move into the 2nd spot and opened a gap. He finished at 17:23. Aidan Scott easily held the 3rd spot in 17:31. Carter Bowie held the 4th spot in 17:42. Holden Ammons just held off the late kick of Michael Cline for the 5th spot with both recording a 17:46. Cline had dropped into 8th after coming out of the turn and found one more kick to move back up to that 6th spot. Zach Cannon edged Brady Layman for 7th with both at 17:47. Haygen Baker edged out Trey Stanley for 9th with both at 17:50. Isaac Slater held the 11th spot in 17:57. Ashton Nardella nipped Dawson Winsett at the line for 12th with both recording an 18:01 (actually both at 18:01.63). A.J. Petrovsky was 14th in 18:13. Creed Knight closed well to move up to 15th in 18:14. Andrea Skeens was 16th in 18:15. Cade Curfman took the 17th spot in 18:18. Brennan Miller was 18th in 18:21. Patrick Reilly was 19th in 18:30. Ritchie's Tatem Elliott moved into the 20th spot in 18:33.

With only two sets of teams swapping places (1-2 and 4-5), that's where I have to look for an MVP. Obviously, with one of those being for the championship, that's where you go. There wasn't a singular performace on the Ritchie team that made the difference, but there was one guy who stepped up for them. As was the case for them all season, you didn't really know who was going to step up as it varied from meet-to-meet. In this one, this guy moved up from a predicted 21st place finish to an actual 15th place finish. It's only six spots, but two of those spots ended up being Doddridge guys, doubling the impact. For that reason, the 2020 RunWV MVP is Ritchie's Creed Knight.

So, how did RunWV do on the predictions. This was a much better overall set than the girls. I did miss the team champion, but I knew that one would be tight. The team race really played out pretty closely to what was expected. Individually, I got 9 of the top 10, 12 of the top 15, and a very nice 24 of the top 25. On average, runners finished within 5.54 places of their predicted finish. The runner who moved into a podium position was Wood Country Christian's Michael Cline (picked 11th, got 6th). The runner who moved into the top 25 was Williamstown's Chase Trembly (picked 26th, got 23rd). The big moved on the day was Charleston Catholic's Kevin Hayes who moved up 18 spots from his predicted 61st place finish to his actual 43rd place finish. The top team improvement on the day came from Notre Dame who scored 19 points less than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the Ritchie boys. You epitomized the theme for this year. Depth. As mentioned, you had different runners step forward all year long, and it happened again for the State Meet. You knew it was going to be tough, and you ran a strong and disciplined race to take the title.

I offer my congratulations to Carter Lipscomb. I can't think of anyone that deserved this title more than you. I know the work that you've put in and what getting that title meant to you. You almost had your chance taken away, but you kept going, and when the chance was given back, you left no doubt.

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 a thing. That's why we run the race.