Meet:  		Class AAA Boys State Meet Predictions
Location:	Cabell Midland High School
Date:		To be held October 29, 2022

Predicted Class AAA Boys Team Results
We have a couple truly great teams going at it here. Regional Conversions showed the two teams having 8 of the top 10 Regional Performances. I have them taking 10 of the top 16 spots in the meet. It's a shame either has to lose. That being said, I have University taking the top spot by 10 points with both teams getting three on the podium. Hurricane easily has the 2nd spot. Wheeling Park is a really good team, but they'd have to have things go really right or things go really wrong to get on the podium. It looks highly unlikely for anyone else to crack the top 3 with Cabell Midland looking to have the best shot at it.
1.  University           40
2.  Hurricane            50
3.  Wheeling Park        83
4.  Cabell Midland      127
5.  Jefferson           144
6.  Morgantown          159
7.  Woodrow Wilson      170
8.  Parkersburg South   223
9.  George Washington   271
10. St. Albans          288
11. Washington          299
12. Musselman           301

Predicted Class AAA Boys Top 25
Ty Steorts is the favorite to take the title this year after surprising for a runner-up finish last year as a Freshman. I honestly don't know if we're talking about this kid enough. I feel like he's better at this point than Josh Edwards was. He's a pretty prohibitive favorite, but at the same time, there have been a few meets that he's won by only a few seconds over teammate Aaron Kidd (and one where he went for a tempo run and Kidd beat him), but honestly, I feel like he was going just hard enough to win in those. In the big meets, he established a pretty strong gap. Kidd is the favorite for the 2nd spot. I went with Aiden Kneeland for the 3rd spot. He's only raced against any of the other top guys twice, and in both cases, he ended up 11 seconds behind Kidd. I have moved Ryan Blohm and Drew Zundell into the 4th and 5th spots. The problem here is that they haven't squared off with any of the other top guys, so it's hard to get a good comparison. It's a case where I think the entire team may be somewhat underrated. That drops Nick Kennedy into the 6th spot. He could easily end up 4th, or even 3rd, so he may be getting gipped a bit here. I have Jacob West in 7th, giving both the top teams 3 guys in the top 7. Tristan Blatt is in the 8th spot after solid showing at the MSAC and Regional meets. I have Conner Myers up into the 9th position. He seems to be on the rise throughout the season. That drops Jonah Nizami into the 10th spot following a weaker showing at the Regional. Unlike the girls race, there doesn't seem to be that natural break, and I could easily see any of 19 or 20 guys climbing into those podium spots.

The predicted top 25 is as follows. If you want to know where you are picked, just send me an e-mail, and I'll tell you.

Pick	Score	Name	 		Year	School
1	1	Steorts, Ty		10	Hurricane
2	2	Kidd, Aaron		11	Hurricane
3	3	Kneeland, Aiden		10	Woodrow Wilson
4	4	Blohm, Ryan		12	University
5	5	Zundell, Drew		11	University
6	6	Kennedy, Nick		12	Hurricane
7	7	West, Jacob		11	University
8	8	Blatt, Tristan		11	Cabell Midland
9	9	Myers, Conner		10	Jefferson
10	10	Nizami, Jonah		12	Wheeling Park
11	11	Umbright, Tyler		10	University
12	12	Moore, Redick		10	Wheeling Park
13	13	Whorton, Gavin		10	University
14	14	Ashmore, Ben		12	Wheeling Park
15	15	Conroy, Ethan		9	University
16	16	Dawkins, Brady		12	Hurricane
17	17	Gottlieb, Justin	12	Jefferson
18	18	Bazzle, Ryan		12	Geo. Washington
19	X	Gillum, Jordan		12	Buck-Upshur
20	19	Franke, Seth		11	Wheeling Park
21	20	Canaday, Brandon	11	Woodrow Wilson
22	X	Bowen, Andrew		11	Huntington
23	21	Bailey, Jared		12	Cabell Midland
24	X	Mills, Jack		11	Parkersburg
25	22	Elswick, Braden		12	Cabell Midland