The Class AAA Boys closed the opening session. From my perspective, this race had the best weather of the day. We were sitting in the low 50's...maybe upper 40's. University came in as the favorite, and they delivered. Their depth just could not be challenged as they sped to the 17 point win. Hurricane easily held the 2nd spot as expected. Individually, Ty Steorts was the favorite, and he also came through, easing away from the competition over the 2nd half of the race to win by 14 seconds.

At the top of the hill at approximately 0.75 miles, we had a close race. Woodrow Wilson's Aiden Kneeland led the field past in 3:41. He was followed closely by Hurricane's Ty Steorts in 2nd and University's Drew Zundell in 3rd with both at 3:42. University's Ryan Blohm was in 4th at 3:43. Hurricane's Aaron Kidd was in 5th with Cabell Midland's Tristan Blatt in 6th with both at 3:44. There was a small gap to University's Jacob West, Hurricane's Nick Kennedy, Wheeling Park's Redick Moore, and Jefferson's Conner Myers all at 3:48 holding the 7th through 10th spots, respectively. University's Ethan Conroy was in 11th with Jefferson's Justin Gottlieb in 12th, Wheeling Park's Jonah Nizami in 13th, George Washington's Ryan Bazzle in 14th, Hurricane's Brady Dawkins in 15th, and University's Tyler Umbright in 16th with each at 3:49. Close behind them in 17th and 18th was University's Gavin Whorton and Wheeling Park's Seth Franke with both at 3:50. Wheeling Park's Ben Ashmore was in 19th at 3:51 with Woodrow Wilson's Brandon Canaday in 20th at 3:52.

At the Mile Mark, it was still a tight three-way race, but Ty Steorts had the slight edge over Aiden Kneeland and Drew Zundell with each at 5:07. Ryan Blohm remained in 4th at 5:10 with Aaron Kidd in 5th at 5:11. Tristan Blatt was in 6th at 5:15. Nick Kennedy had moved up a spot to 7th at 5:17. Jacob West was in 8th with Conner Myers in 9th and Ethan Conroy in 10th with each at 5:18. Justin Gottlieb was in 11th with Redick Moore in 12th with both at 5:19. Ryan Bazzle was in 13th at 5:21 with that time matched by Jonah Nizami, Tyler Umbright, and Gavin Whorton in 14th through 16th, respectively. Brady Dawkins was in 17th with Seth Franke in 18th with both at 5:22. Ben Ashmore remained in 19th at 5:23 with University's Jack Overfield was in 20th at 5:24.

At the barn at approximately 1.6-1.65 miles, Ty Steorts remained in the lead and had opened just a bit of a gap, passing at 8:15. Drew Zundell was up to 2nd at 8:16 with Aiden Kneeland in 3rd at 8:18. Aaron Kidd had moved into, and taken control of, 4th at 8:22. Ryan Blohm was in 5th at 8:29. Nick Kennedy had moved into 6th at 8:33 with Tristan Blatt in 7th at 8:34 and Jacob West in 8th at 8:35. Ethan Conroy was up to 9th at 8:38, and Redick Moore had moved back into the top 10 at 8:38. Conner Myers was in 11th with Justin Gottlieb in 12th with both at 8:40. Tyler Umbright had moved up to 13th at 8:45 with Gavin Whorton moving up to 14th and matching that time. Jonah Nizami was in 15th at 8:46 with Seth Franke in 16th at 8:47. Ben Ashmore was up to 17th at 8:48. Ryan Bazzle was in 18th at 8:50. Brady Dawkins was in the 19th spot at 8:51, and Washington's Noah Schappell had moved into 20th at 8:55.

At the two mile mark, Ty Steorts was starting to assert himself, stretching out to about a 5 second lead, coming through in 10:15. Aiden Kneeland had moved back into 2nd at 10:20 with Drew Zundell in 3rd at 10:21. Aaron Kidd had closed up on this group. He was still in 4th but right on their heels now, also passing at 10:21. These four had distanced themselves from the rest of the field. Nick Kennedy had moved into the 5th spot at 10:36 with Ryan Blohm in 6th at 10:37. Tristan Blatt remained in 7th at 10:40 with Jacob West in 8th at 10:41. Ethan Conroy continued to hold the 9th spot at 10:44 with Redick Moore in 10th at 10:45. They had opened a gap on the trail group, making things look solid for this group holding the 10 podium spots. Justin Gottlieb was in 11th, just ahead of Tyler Umbright in 12th and Conner Myers in 13th with each at 10:51. Gavin Whorton was in 14th at 10:52. Jonah Nizami remained in 15th at 10:54 with Seth Franke still in 16th at 10:55. Ben Ashmore continued to hold the 17th spot at 10:59. Ryan Bazzle was in 18th at 11:01 with Brady Dawkins in 19th at 11:03 and Noah Schappell in 20th at 11:04.

Coming onto the track, Ty Steorts had clearly pulled away for the comfortable win, crossing the line at a strong 15:27. Aaron Kidd made it a 1-2 finish, running a disciplined race and finishing strong in 15:41. Drew Zundell held the 3rd spot at 15:45 with Aiden Kneeland in 4th at 15:48. These four guys are all back next year. Nick Kennedy held the 5th spot, giving Hurricane 3 of the top 5. He also joined that foursome in cracking the 16:00 barrier, crossing in 15:55. Tristan Blatt closed strong to move into the 6th position in 16:07. Ryan Blohm, reportedly dealing with some footwear malfunction over the 2nd half of the race, held the 7th spot in 16:12, just ahead of teammate Jacob West in 8th in 16:13. Redick Moore moved into the 9th spot in 16:15, holding off one last surge from Ethan Conroy, who finished 10th in 16:16, giving University 4 of the top 10. But they weren't done yet. Tyler Umbright closed well to ove into 11th in 16:30. Gavin Whorton made it 6 of the top 12 for University with a last second nip of Jonah Nizami for 12th. He took the spot by just 0.01 with both at 16:31. Nizami had moved up nicely over the last mile to take that 13th position. Seth Franke also picked up a couple spots in the last mile to move into 14th in 16:33. Conner Myers held the 15th spot in 16:38. Noah Schappell moved up 4 spots in the closing stages to take 16th in 16:41. Ben Ashmore held the 17th spot in 16:44. Jack Overfield wrapped things up for University by moving up to 18th in the final mile, finishing in 16:46 and giving University 7 of the top 18 spots. Ryan Bazzle held the 19th spot, just ahead of Justin Gottlieb with both at 16:56.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was a pretty solid set. On the team side, I got the champion correct, and almost every team finished where expected. 4-5 swapped and 10-11 swapped. Everyone else finished exactly where they were predicted. Individually, I got the champion correct and 8 of the predicted top 10 did indeed make the podium. Things improved to getting 14 of the top 15, but then derailed hitting only 20 of the top 25. On average runners finished within 6.23 spots of their predicted finish, which was a nice improvement from last year. The runner's who claimed those unexpected podium spots were Wheeling Park's Redick Moore (picked 12th, got 9th) and University's Ethan Conroy (picked 15th, got 10th). Those who moved into the top 25 were Washington's Noah Schappell (picked 29th, got 16th), University's Jack Overfield (picked 26th, got 18th), Morgantown's Quinn Mudry (picked 27th, got 23rd), Wheeling Park's Trent Thomas (picked 34th, got 24th), and Morgantown's Donald Adjeroh (picked 32nd, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Jefferson's Connor Ireland, who moved up 22 spots from his predicted 54th place finish to his actual 32nd place finish. The biggest improvement in team points came from Washington, who scored 23 fewer points than predicted. This was the 2nd straight year they showed that. I'll have to remember to give them more credit next year.

In searching for the MVP, I first look at University, but no one's performance was critical as they won by 17 points. 2nd and 3rd wasn't a close race either. So that takes me to the two paces that had place swaps, and the higher up the charts, the more likely you are to get this award. So that leads me to Jefferson. Jefferson had several guys perform above prediction with one moving up 7 spots, one moving up 9 spots, one moving up 10 spots, and one moving up 22 spots. Naturally, I'm going with the biggest mover, which, as already noted, was Connor Ireland. He was supposed to be the 6th man, but he ran as the #5 and was within 10 seconds of their #3, who also ran very well. As #5, he scored 31 team points, and their number 5 was predicted to score 47. That 16 points is more than enough to score them the edge over Cabell Midland for the 4th position in the meet. For his move up the charts, the 2022 RunWV MVP is Jefferson's Connor Ireland.

I offer my congratulations to the University boys. You turned an expected tight race into a convincing win. Your consistency and continual excellence are impressive. 4 in the top 10. 6 in the top 12. 7 in the top 18. Dominant.

I offer my congratulations to Ty Steorts. You haven't yet gotten the credit and notice you deserve for your performances. You ran away from the field when you felt like it. One would have trouble convincing me that if you wanted to win by 30 seconds that you couldn't do so. I look forward to seeing your post-season runs against strong Regional competition. If the Adidas Meet in September is any indication, you'll be right in the thick of things.

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.