The Class AAA Girls race opened the morning session. Temperatures were chilly in this session, sitting in the low 40's, but the sun was shining, and the course was firm, setting things up for quick times. The team battle was expected to be a Morgantown runaway, and there was little doubt from the start that they were going to come through with 5 in the top 11 at the first checkpoint. It ended slightly closer than expected as the *only* won by 46 points instead of 50. They ended up putting 5 in the top 10 for the 2nd year in a row and 6 in the top 15. Cabell Midland was expected to take the 2nd spot but an illness took out one of their runners, opening the door for University, who ran extremely well. The Cabell Midland replacement, Abby Wendell, only placed one spot below where I had their missing runner picked, so it was mostly University just running really well to steal the 2nd spot on the tie-breaker. A tie-breaker for the podium...I haven't researched that, but I'm not sure if that's happened before. Individually, Irene Riggs was expected to dominate, but my goodness...I don't think anyone expected that. She absolutely crushed the field, winning by over 2:00 and crushing the course/State Meet Record by 45 seconds with an amazing 16:32, which I believe would also be the best ever Cross Country time by a West Virginia High School girl. Simply an amazing run. Audrey Hall took control of 2nd place early and was never threatened, taking that spot by 24 seconds.

At my first checkpoint, at the top of the hill, which is at about 0.75 miles, and Morgantown's Irene Riggs had already established a large lead, getting out by 23 seconds and coming through in 3:56. Hurricane's Audrey Hall had command of the 2nd spot at 4:19. Morgantown's Amelia Summers was in 3rd at 4:29 with that time matched by Cabell Midland's Savannah Pritt in 4th. They were trailed immediately by Morgantown's Madeline Gump in 5th at 4:30. She had a slight edge on the pack of Morgantown's Anna Lester, University's Adelyn Tager, Buckhannon-Upshur's Lydia Falkenstein, and Buckhannon-Upshur's Samantha Shreve, who were all at 4:31. University's Claire von Boetticher was in 10th, Morgantown's Sophie Renner was in 11th, and Ripley's Ellie Hosaflook was in 12th, each at 4:32. Hurricane's Ella Hardin was in 13th and Cabell Midland's Quinn Hazelett was in 14th with both at 4:36. Morgantown's Maraid Johnson was in 15th at 4:39. Cabell Midland's Tatum McKenna was 16th and Jefferson's Hannah Phillips was 17th with both at 4:43. St. Albans' Abigail Torman was in 18th at 4:44 with Morgantown's Jennifer O'Palko was in 19th with the same time. George Washington's Ava Mitias was in 20th at 4:45.

At the mile mark, Irene Riggs had extended her lead to 34 seconds, coming through at 5:28. Audrey Hall had taken further control of 2nd at 6:02. A group of 6 came through together with Savannah Pritt in 3rd, Amelia Summers in 4th, Madeline Gump in 5th, and Adelyn Tager in 6th at 6:15 and Anna Lester in 7th and Sophie Renner in 8th in 6:16. Lydia Falkenstein was in 9th at 6:19 with Samantha Shreve in 10th at 6:20. Ellie Hosaflook was up to 11th in 6:21 with Claire von Boetticher in 12th at the same time. Ella Hardin remained in 13th at 6:25 with Quinn Hazelett matching that in 14th. Maraid Johnson continued to hold the 15th spot in 6:32. Hannah Phillips had moved up to 16th in 6:35. Abigail Torman was in 17th, just ahead of Tatum McKenna with both at 6:38. University's Caroline Ballard had moved into 19th at 6:42 with teammate Sophia Bell joining her in the top 20, also at 6:42.

At the barn, which I think is somewhere between 1.6 and 1.65 miles, Irene Riggs had taken her lead out to almost a full minute, passing at 8:51. Audrey Hall remained in cmoplete control of the 2nd spot at 9:49. Savannah Pritt was in 3rd at 10:06. Adelyn Tager had moved into the 4th spot at 10:07. Lydia Falkenstein had made a move to slide into 5th place at 10:10. Madeline Gump, Amelia Summers, Anna Lester, and Samantha Shreve held 6th through 9th, respectively with each at 10:11. Sophie Renner was just off their back in 10th in 10:12. Claire von Boetticher was in 11th at 10:16. Ella Hardin had moved up to 12th in 10:24, just ahead of Ellie Hosaflook in 13th in 10:25. Quinn Hazelett continued to hold the 14th spot at 10:27. Hannah Phillips moved up another spot to 15th at 10:31 with Maraid Johnson in 16th at 10:32. Abigail Torman remained 17th at 10:45. Caroline Ballard was up to 18th in 10:49 with Tatum McKenna matchign that time in 19th. Sophie Bell continued to hold the 20th spot at 10:52.

I didn't get to the 2 mile mark in time to catch Irene Riggs, but it's reported that she came through in 10:54. Audrey Hall remained in 2nd at 12:11. Savannah Pritt had opened a bit of a gap in the 3rd spot at 12:29. Adelyn Tager remained in 4th at 12:33. Lydia Falkenstein continued to hold the 5th spot at 12:37. Samantha Shreve was up to 6th at 12:40 with Madeline Gump and Anna Lester matching that time in 7th and 8th, respectively. Amelia Summers and Sophie Renner were in 9th and 10th, respectively, with both at 12:41. Claire von Boetticher continued to hold that 11th spot in 12:46. Ella Hardin was in 12th at 12:55 with Ellie Hosaflook in 13th at 12:59. Hannah Phillips had moved up another spot into 14th at 13:00. Quinn Hazelett was in 15th at 13:04. Maraid Johnson remained 16th at 13:07. Abigail Torman was in 17th at 13:31. Caroline Ballard continued to hold a slight edge over Tatum McKenna for 18th with both at 13:26. Sophia Bell continued to hold the 20th position at 13:28.

At the finish, Irene Riggs had taken her lead out to over 2:00. She finished well before anyone else hit the track. Her magnificent 16:32 clocking knocked 45 seconds off the course record (yes, I know it's not exactly the same course). Audrey Hall easily held the 2nd spot at 18:34. Savannah Pritt held off the late charge of Madeline Gump for 3rd with Pritt recording an 18:58 and Gump getting a 18:59. Gump had made a late pass of Lydia Falkenstein to move into that 4th spot. Falkenstein took the 5th spot at 19:00 with Samantha Shreve controlling the 6th position in an excellent run in 19:01. Adelyn Tager held the 7th spot in 19:04. Amelia Summers, Anna Lester, and Sophie Renner took the next 3 spots for Morgantown to lock up the team title with Summers at 19:06, Lester at 19:08, and Renner at 19:11. Claire von Boetticher maintained the 11th spot in 19:22. Hannah Phillips continued her move up the charts to finish 12th in 19:27. Ella Hardin was 13th in 19:33. Quinn Hazelett moved back up to 14th in 19:43. Maraid Johnson came back up to 15th in 19:50. Ellie Hosaflook held onto 16th in 20:07. Abigail Torman kept the 17th spot in 20:08, just a blip ahead of Tatum McKenna, who was also at 20:08. Caroline Ballard took the 19th spot in 20:21 with Sophia Bell keeping the 20th position at 20:23.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was a pretty solid set. I got the top team correct, but that wasn't exactly difficult. University and Cabell Midland switched spots (via tie-breaker). 4 through 9 went as planned. 10th and 12th swapped spots. Individually, I got 8 of the top 10 and 12 of the top 15 and a very strong 23 of the top 25. The average runner finished just 5.27 spots away from her predicted finish. The runners who grabbed the coveted podium spots were Buckhannon-Upshur's Samantha Shreve (picked 13th, got 6th) and Morgantown's Sophie Renner (picked 11th, got 10th). Those that moved into the top 25 were University's Sophia Bell (picked 33rd, got 20th) and Parkersburg's Aubrey Lantz (picked 27th, got 25th). The big mover of the day was Jefferson's Mabel Catgreave, who jumped up 27 spots from a predicted 72nd place finish to an actual 45th place finish. The team that moved up the most was University who jumped up 26 points to snag that 2nd team spot on the podium.

With it coming down to the tie-breaker to get onto the podium, it really has to come from there. The first thing I noticed was Elizabeth West getting an extremely late pass to capture a spot by 0.06 seconds, but she was #6 on the team, so that didn't impact the scoring. There were two spots in which a University runner finished directly in front of a Cabell Midland runner. Examining those two spots and the predictions around them leads me to an MVP winner. This runner moved up 15 spots from her predicted finish to her actual finish. That included 14 team spots, but most importantly, down the stretch, she held off a Cabell Midland runner. The Midland runner had come from behind to just about pull even as they came out of the final turn, but this University runner was able to fend her off and take the spot by 1.22 seconds. 1.22 seconds to take a podium spot, and for that reason, the 2022 RunWV MVP is University's Haley Kramer.

I offer my congratulations to the Morgantown girls. There was never really any doubt about how this would go. You were dominant all season long, and continued that domination on Saturday. The race was over within the first mile. 5 of the top 10. 6 of the top 15. No one was even close.

I offer my congratulations to Irene Riggs. You silenced any questions about how you would come off the injury when you cracked 17:00 at the Regional Meet, but the performance on Saturday was certainly among the best I've ever witnessed. You went somewhere no West Virginia High School girl has ever gone. You crushed a course record by 45 seconds. You won by over 2:00. This was domination on an incredible scale. I cannot wait to see what the post-season holds.

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.