The Class AA Boys closed the day's festivities. As with the AA Girls, it was quite warm, especially for a late October day. Frankfort was expected to win handily, and they more than accomplished that, putting 3 guys in the top 4 and 4 in the top 10 on the way to a 41 point spanking of the field. Winfield was going to need something special to beat them, and to their credit, they went for it, but it was not to be. Individually, Brayden Marshall was the heavy favorite, and he controlled the race from the beginning, and stretched his lead at every checkpoint to the eventual 19 second margin of victory.

At the top of the hill at approximately 0.75 miles, Winfield's Brayden Marshall had already established a significant gap on the fest of the field, coming through at 3:32. Teammate Justin Lipscomb was in 2nd place at 3:39, trailed closely by Frankfort's Steven Kent Niland and Garrett Ferguson with each at 3:40. Poca's Landon Brumfield was in 5th at 3:43. Lewis' Slate Swiger was in the 6th spot at 3:45 with Wayne's Chace Thompson in 7th at 3:46. East Farimont's Drew Moore was in 8th at 3:51, followed by Fairmont Senior's Josiah Brannen and Frankfort's Luke Duncan in the 9th and 10th spots at 3:52. Winfield's Adam Criser was in 11th at 3:53. Shady Spring's Jaedan Holstein was in 12th at 3:54. Herbert Hoover's John Duvall was in 13th at 3:55. Keyser's Trenton Denne and East Fairmont's Nathaniel Stuck were 14th and 15th with both at 3:56. Frankfort's Ryan Hughes was in 16th at 3:57 with that time matched by Winfield's Jordon Reesman and Weir's Joshua Duffy in 17th and 18th, respectively. Wayne's Chance Thompson was in 19th at 3:58 with that time matched by PikeView's Braden Ward in 20th.

At the mile mark, Brayden Marshall had pushed his lead out to 10 seconds, coming through in 5:00. Justin Lipscomb remained in 2nd with Steven Kent Niland right on his heels with both at 5:10. Garrett Ferguson was close behind in 4th at 5:12. Those three had gapped the rest of the field with Slate Swiger moving into 5th at 5:20 with Landon Brumfield matching that time in 6th. Luke Duncan had moved up to 7th at 5:24 with Chace Thompson matching that time in 8th. Josiah Brannen was holding the 9th spot at 5:27. Jaedan Holstein had moved up to 10th at 5:29. Nathaniel Stuck and Jordon Reesman had both made big moves with Stuck up to 11th and Reesman up to 12th with both at 5:30. Drew Moore was in 13th at 5:32 with that time matched by Adam Criser, John Duvall, and Ryan Hughes in the 14th through 16th spots, respectively. Trenton Denne was in 17th at 5:33 wit Joshua Duffy still holding that 18th spot at 5:34. Braden Ward was in 19th at 5:36, and Fairmont Senior's Griffin Thomas had moved into 20th at 5:38.

At the barn at approximately 1.60-1.65 miles, Brayden Marshall had further extended his leading, coming through at 8:18. Steven Kent Niland had taken over the 2nd spot at 8:32 with Garrett Ferguson right behind him in 3rd at 8:33. Those were very recent passes with Justin Lipscomb close behind in 4th at 8:34. Luke Duncan had moved up to 5th at 8:46. Slate Swiger was in the 6th position at 8:49. Nathaniel Stuck had continued to move up the field into 7th at 8:58. Landon Brumfield was in 8th at 8:59. Jaedan Holstein was up to 9th at 9:00. Chace Thompson was holding the 10th spot at 9:02. Josiah Brannen was in 11th at 9:03. Jordon Reesman remained in the 12th spot at 9:04. Ryan Hughes had moved up to 13th at 9:06. Braden Ward had made a nice move into 14th at 9:09. John Duvall was in 15th at 9:10 with Drew Moore matching that time in 16th. Trenton Denne was in 17th at 9:11 with Joshua Duffy matching that time in 18th. Oak Glen's Nick Gallo had moved into 19th at 9:13, and Grafton's J.T. Veltri had moved into 20th at 9:17.

At the 2 mile mark, Brayden Marshall came through at 10:22, extending his lead a bit more. Steven Kent Niland remained in 2nd at 10:38, and Garrett Ferguson was still in 3rd at 10:40. They had gotten away from Justin Lipscomb, who still held the 4th spot at 10:53. Luke Duncan remained in 5th at 11:00 but was closing. Slate Swiger still held the 6th spot at 11:08. Nathaniel Stuck remained in 7th at 11:11. Jordon Reesman had made a few passes to climb to 8th at 11:17 with Jaedan Holstein matching that time in 9th. Landon Brumfield was holding the 10th spot at 11:19. Josiah Brannen was in 11th at 11:23 with Ryan Hughes matching that time in 12th. Chace Thompson was in 13th at 11:25. Drew Moore was back up to 14th at 11:27 with Braden Ward matching that time in 15th. Nick Gallo was up to 16th at 11:29. Trenton Denne continued to hold the 17th spot at 11:30. Joshua Duffy remained in 18th at 11:32. John Duvall was in 19th at 11:33 with Frankfort's Zane Nelson up to 20th at the same time.

Unlike last year, when three guys hit the track together, this time Brayden Marshall was all alone as he powered home for the 19 second win and repeat championship. Steven Kent Nilad pulled away to easily capture the 2nd spot in 16:09. Garrett Ferguson easily held the 3rd spot at 16:24. Luke Duncan moved up to run away with the 4th spot in 16:42, giving Frankfort a 2-3-4 finish. Nathaniel Stuck completed his disciplined race in 5th in 17:00. Justin Lipscomb held onto the 6th spot in 17:08. Jordon Reesman moved up to the 7th spot in 17:12, just holding off the late kick of Jaedan Holstein, who was 8th in 17:13. Holstein had made a late pass of Slate Swiger, who finished 9th, also at 17:13. Only 1.3 seconds separated the three. Ryan Hughes moved up to 10th in 17:18 to give Frankfort four of the top 10. Frankfort and Winfield combined to take 7 of the 10 podium positions. Josiah Brannen maintained the 11th spot in 17:22. Landon Brumfield was 12th in 17:25. Drew Moore took the 13th spot in 17:26, just ahead of Trenton Denne, who had moved up nicely from the 2 mile mark to finish 14th in 17:27. Braden Ward just held off Zane Nelson for 15th with Ward recording a 17:29 and Nelson a 17:30 (but with less than 0.5 seconds between them). Nelson made it five in for Frankfort, locking up the team title for them. Nick Gallo held the 17th spot in 17:36. Frankfort's Landyn Sell moved up to 18th in the final mile, finishing in 17:41. Joshua Duffy was 19th in 17:47, and Chace Thompson held 20th in 17:51.

So, how did RunWV do on the predictions? I think it's best described as "meh." I got the team champion correct and the runner-up, but there was more movement among the teams than in any other group this year. I got the individual champion correct as well. I got 8 of the top 10, but that dropped to just 11 of the top 15 and 21 of the top 25. On average, runners finished within 6.22 places of their predicted finish. That is almost 2 full spots worse than last year. The runners who claimed podium positions were Shady Spring's Jaedan Holstein (picked 19th, got 8th), and Frankfort's Ryan Hughes (picked 11th, got 10th). Those who climbed into the top 25 were Frankfort's Zane Nelson (picked 21st, got 16th), Fairmont Senior's Griffin Thomas (picked 26th, got 23rd), East Fairmont's Joshua McPherson (picked 40th, got 24th), and Wayne's Logan Prater (picked 38th, got 25th). The big mover of the day was East Fairmont's Joshua McPherson, who moved up 16 spots from his predicted 40th place finish to his actual 24th place finish. From a team standpoint, Elkins improved 29 points from their predicted total.

In searching for an MVP, I have to bypass Frankfort. Winning by that much will almost always exclude you getting picked for this honor. Winfield was also so far ahead of 3rd, that there isn't really anything there either. So, I look at the teams that moved up spots. That would be East Fairmont (from 4 to 3), and Lewis County (from 8 to 6). Naturally, I lean toward the 3-4 move. East Fairmont took the spot by 28 points, so there wasn't one move that did it, but Lewis took their spot by 16 points, and there wasn't one move that accomplished theirs either. So the waters are muddied. In the end, I go with a guy who made a significant move, a guy who was picked to finish behind Fairmont Senior's 5th runner, but ended up just one spot behind their 2nd runner. His 16 spot move up the chart wasn't the complete difference maker for East Fairmont's 3rd place finish, but it was the biggest and most important. For his critical performance, the 2022 RunWV MVP is East Fairmont's Joshua McPherson.

I offer my congratulations to the Frankfort boys. You've been the big dog in AA all season. You've squared off with top AAA teams and held your own. You've traveled to the Adidas meet in September and came away with 3rd place in the Championshpi Division. You ran exceptionally well when it mattered. There were 6 guys that graded out +20 or better in this meet, and you had three of them, including the top 2. You hit on all cylinders on the big stage to dominate the competition.

I offer my congratulations to Brayden Marshall. Repeats can be difficult, but you took control of the race early and never looked back. You were strong throughout the course. I think you had the fastest split between spots at every checkpoint. There was not much doubt going in that you were the favorite, and you certainly showed why.

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.