The Class AAA Boys closed the second session. This race featured the hardest rain of the day. It seemingly just got worse as the race went on. The team race was expected to be a University romp, and that's exactly what it was as their tiny total of 30 was over 50 points better than 2nd place. Wheeling Park took advantage of a missing Hurricane runner to snag the 2nd podium position. Individually, Josh Edwards was expected to win easily and to possibly challenge the course record. The sloppy course conditions ruined any chance at a record, but Edwards did indeed win with ease, outdistancing the competition by almost 30 seconds.

At the gun Parkersburg South's Aiden Blake rocketed to the front. But by the top of the hill at about 0.7 miles, University's Josh Edwards had assumed his normal place at the front of the field, coming through in 3:44. University's Rocco DeVincent and Parkersburg's Franklin Angelos were in a tight race for 2nd and 3rd with both at 3:49. University's Ryan Blohm had a slight edge on Woodrow Wilson's Aiden Kneeland for 4th with both at 3:54. University's Drew Zundell was in 6th at 3:55 with Hurricane's Ty Steorts and Cabell Midland's Cooper Gibson matching that time in 7th and 8th, respectively. Bridgeport's Bailey DeMoss was in 9th at 3:57. Musselman's Parker Mackey was out strong in 10th at 4:01. Jefferson's Kyle de Nobel leading a close pack in 11th at 4:02. That time was matched by Washington's John Larsen in 12th, Jefferson's Justin Gottlieb in 13th, and Hurricane's Nick Kennedy in 14th. John Marshall's Mack Allen was in 15th at 4:03 with that time matched by Cabell Midland's Tristan Blatt in 16th and Wheeling Park's Brady Miller in 17th. Wheeling Park's Jonah Nizami was in 18th at 4:04 with Ripley's Chase Pepper matching that time in 19th. University's Quinn Mudry was in 20th at 4:05.

At the Mile Mark, Josh Edwards rapidly extended his lead to 13 seconds, coming through in 5:07. Rocco DeVincent and Franklin Angelos remained in a dual at 5:20 with DeVincent having the slightest of edges. Ty Steorts had moved up into 4th in 5:24. Aidan Kneeland was right with him in 5th, also at 5:24. Ryan Blohm was in 6th at 5:26 with Drew Zundell matching that in 7th. Cooper Gibson was in 8th at 5:27. Bailey DeMoss remained in 9th in 5:31. Kyle de Nobel had moved into 10th at 5:34 with Justin Gottlieb matching that in 11th. Nick Kennedy had moved up to 12th in 5:35. Mack Allen was in 13th at 5:37 with that time matched by John Larsen in 14th, Brady Miller in 15th, and Parker Mackey in 16th. Jonah Nizami was in 17th at 5:38 with Tristan Blatt in 18th at 5:39. Chase Pepper remained in 19th in 5:41. Washington's Logan Musser was in 20th at 5:44.

At the extension building at about 1.4 miles, the highest point on the course, Josh Edwards continued to extend his lead, taking it out to 21 seconds now coming through in 7:25. Rocco DeVincent and Franklin Angelos continued to battle with DeVincent still being ever-so-slightly ahead with both at 7:46. Ty Steorts was in reach in 4th at 7:49. Ryan Blohm and Drew Zundell continued to run together, holding the 5th and 6th spots at 7:56. Cooper Gibson was right there in 7th at 7:57. Aiden Kneeland was in 8th at 7:58. Bailey DeMoss remained in the 9th spot at 8:01. Nick Kennedy continued to climb, now into the 10th spot at 8:03 with Kyle de Nobel matching that time in 11th. Justin Gottlieb was in 12th at 8:04. Brady Miller was in 13th at 8:10 with Mack Allen matching that time in 14th. John Larsen was running 15th at 8:11 with Jonah Nizami matching that in 16th. Tristan Blatt was in 17th at 8:14 with Parker Mackey in 18th at 8:15. University's Jacob West had moved into the top 20, coming through in 19th at 8:16. Logan Musser was in 20th at 8:17.

I didn't get bonus footage at 1.85 miles and my notebook was too wet for notes.

At the two mile mark, Edwards had stretched his lead out even more, taking it out to 27 seconds, coming through in 10:22. Rocco DeVincent continued to hold the slight edge for 2nd with he and Franklin Angelos both coming through at 10:49. Ty Steorts had closed the gap to 2 seconds at 10:51. Ryan Blohm had taken control of 5th at 11:00 with Drew Zundell still in 6th at 11:05. Nick Kennedy was now up to 7th in 11:09. Bailey DeMoss had moved into 8th in 11:10 with that time matched by Aiden Kneeland in 9th. Kyle de Nobel was in 10th at 11:14 with Cooper Gibson and Justin Gottlieb right behind him at 11:15 in 11th and 12th, respectively. Mack Allen was in 13th at 11:22. John Larsen was close behind in 14th at 11:23 with Brady Miller in 15th at 11:24. Jonah Nizami was in 16th at 11:27. Logan Musser had climbed to 17th at 11:32. Tristan Blatt was in 18th at 11:33. Morgantown's Landon Young had joined the top 20 in 19th at 11:35 with Jacob West in 20th at 11:36.

Coming onto the track, Josh Edwards was all alone. He cruised to the finish in 15:51, getting the win by nearly 30 seconds. Ty Steorts had made a major move to take the 2nd spot and significantly gap everyone else to finish in 16:20. Rocco DeVincent pulled away for 3rd in 16:37. Franklin Angelos held the 4th spot in 16:45. Drew Zundell slipped by teammate Ryan Blohm in the last strides for 5th with both crossing in 16:49. Bailey DeMoss won the kick for 7th over Nick Kennedy with DeMoss getting a 16:54 and Kennedy getting a 16:55. Another kick to the finish saw Aiden Kneeland edging out Kyle de Nobel for 9th with both getting a 17:01. Mack Allen moved up to 11th in 17:05. John Larsen moved up to 12th in 17:12. Cooper Gibson won a kick for 13th in 17:19 with Jonah Nizami matching that time moving up to 14th. Brady Miller held the 15th spot in 17:22. Tristan Blatt took the 16th position in 17:28 with Justin Gottlieb in 17th in 17:29. Landon Young snagged the 18th spot in 17:31. Wheeling Park's Ben Ashmore moved into the 19th spot over the final mile to finish in 17:32. Jacob West held the 20th spot in 17:37.

As in the AAA Girls race, the winning team was so dominant that no performance was critical. Wheeling Park moved up a spot but no one's move made the difference. Jefferson climbed from a predicted 7th to an actual 4th. They had one runner move up 17 spots, picking up enough team points along the way to account for 2 of those places. For that move up the charts to help his team, the 2021 RunWV MVP is Jefferson's Christien Morel.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? Pretty solid I guess. The team standings had some issues, much driven by DNR and DNF. I did get the team champion right. 2 and 3 were swapped, and only 2 teams finished more than 1 spot different than their predicted place. Things were pretty good individually, with 9 of the predicted to 10 ascending the podium. 12 of the top 15 finished in the top 15, and 22 of the top 25 finsihed in the top 25. On average, runners finished within 7.11 spots of their predicted finish, which ends up being worse than the AAA Girls that I thought was a bad set of picks. The runner who made his way onto the podium was Bridgeport's Bailey DeMoss (picked 17th, got 7th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Washington's Logan Musser (picked 34th, got 21st), University's Tyler Umbright (picked 41st, got 24th), and Hurricane's Chris Hall (picked 42nd, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Oak Hill's Austin Bias who climbed 21 spots from his predicted 49th place finish to his actual 28th place finish. From a team standpoint, the best point improvement came from Washington, who scored 40 points fewer than predicted.

I offer my congratulations to the University boys. Once again, you dominated the meet. The work was done to achieve significant improvement from key runners to keep you at the top of the mountain. You performed excellently placing 4 runners in the top 6 and all 7 in the top 25. Very impressive.

I offer my congratulations to Josh Edwards. There was again no doubt how this was going to go, and you continued to run your races with discipline and control. You took over early and stretched your lead throughout. You are a 3-time champion. Rare and excellent.

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.