The Class A Girls opened the festivities. Temperatures were hovering around 60 degrees, and it was overcast, providing relief from the sun, but it was humid. Doddridge and Williamstown were expected to vie for the top spot, and they did with Williamstown pulling off the upset via a better closing mile. St. Marys wasn't far off the pace of those two, giving the LKC an impressive 1-2-3 punch (and 4, for that matter). Individually, Alyssa Sauro was expected to run away with the title, and she did so, winning by 1:40 and finishing well before anyone else made it onto the track.
My first checkpoint was at the top of the hill at approximately 0.75 miles. Williamstown's Alyssa Sauro had already rocketed into a substantial lead, coming through in 4:12. The Doddridge duo of Destiny Berryman and Katie Cottrill were in the 2nd and 3rd spots at 4:27. Charleston Catholic's Bella Boggs was in 4th at 4:31. The St. Marys tandem of Virginia Haddox and Anna Bennett were in 5th and 6th at 4:34 and 4:35, respectively. Williamstown's Cassie Sites was in 7th at 4:40. Tucker's Katie Hicks was in 8th at 4:42, just ahead of Williamstown's Ava Lightfritz, who matched that time. Ritchie's Bentlee Williams was in the 10th spot at 4:43. Doddridge's Bailey Holden was in 11th at 4:46. Trinity Christian's Jenna Barnett was in 12th at 4:48. James Monroe's Katie Collins was in 13th 4:49 with teammat Abby Dixon in 14th at 4:51. Ravenswood's Riley Sotomayor was in 15th at 4:53 with South Harrison's Dakota James matching that time in 16th. Doddridge's Cassie Cumberledge was in 17th at 4:54. Ravenswood's Hadleigh McGoskey was in 18th at 4:55 with teammate Gwyn Gorrell in 19th at 4:56 with Charleston Catholic's Hannah Fisher matching that time in 20th.
At the mile mark, Alyssa Sauro had extended her lead significantly, taking it out to 25 seconds, coming through at 5:52. Destiny Berryman and Katie Cottrill remained in 2nd and 3rd with both at 6:17. Bella Boggs held the 4th spot at 6:22. Anna Bennett and Virginia Haddox held the next two spots with both at 6:28 and Bennett holding the slightest of edges. Cassie Sites remained in 7th at 6:33 with Ava Lightfritz moving up to 8th in 6:34. Katie Hicks was in the 9th spot at 6:36. Bentlee Williams remained in 10th at 6:41. Jenna Barnett had moved into 11th at 6:43 with Bailey Holden matching that time in 12th. Dakoa James had moved up into 13th at 6:52. Hadleigh McGoskey had followed her up to 14th at 6:53. Katie Collins was in 15th and Cassie Cumberledge in 16th with both at 6:54. Abby Dixon was in 17th at 6:55. Riley Sotomayor was in 18th at 6:57. Ritchie's Chesnee Williams had moved into 19th, also at 6:57. Williamstown's Sydney Anderson had moved into the 20th spot at 6:58.
Nearing the mid-way point, Alyssa Sauro was far enough ahead that I didn't get her here at all. Katie Cottrill had taken over the 2nd spot and generated a gap on Destiny Berryman with Cottrill at 8:58 and Berryman at 9:03. Bella Boggs remained in 4th at 9:04. Virginia Haddox had reclaimed the 5th position at 9:10. Anna Bennett was in 6th at 9:12. Cassie Sites still held the 7th spot at 9:15. Ava Lightfritz remained in 8th at 9:23. Katie Hicks was still in 9th at 9:24. Bailey Holden had moved into 10th at 9:26 with Bentlee Williams matching that time in 11th. Jenna Barnett was in 12th at 9:29. Dakota James remained in the 13th spot at 9:46 with Hadleigh McGoskey still in 14th at 9:49. Cassie Cumberledge was up to 15th at 9:51. A pack of four came through at 9:54 with Chesnee Williams at the front and trailed closely by Abby Dixon, Riley Sotomayor, and Sydney Anderson. Katie Collins was in the 20th spot at 9:55.
At about 1.8 miles, I got a small update. Obviously, Alyssa Sauro was long gone again. Katie Cottrill was still in the 2nd spot at 11:34 with Bella Boggs now right on her tail at 11:35. Destiny Berryman was in 4th at 11:40. Virginia Haddox was in 5th at 11:47. Anna Bennett was in 6th at 11:48 with Cassie Sites having closed the gap and matching that time in 7th. Ava Lightfritz remained in 8th, Katie Hicks in 9th, and Bailey Holden in 10th. Jenna Barnett had moved into 11th with Bentlee Williams in 12th.
At the two mile mark, Alyssa Sauro came through at an estimated 11:50. She was again passed through well before I got to the spot. Katie Cottrill remained in the 2nd spot, coming through at 12:53. Bella Boggs remained in 3rd at 12:55. Destiny Berryman remained in 4th at 13:05. Virginia Haddox was in 5th at 13:10 with Cassie Sites having moved into 6th and closing the gap on Haddox to pass witha matching time. Anna Bennett was in 7th at 13:14. Bailey Holden had moved into 8th at 13:26 with Ava Lightfritz matching that in 9th and Katie Hicks right there was well at 13:27 in 10th. Jenna Barnett was in 11th at 13:32. Bentlee Williams was in 12th at 13:41. Dakota James remained in control of 13th in 13:53. Hadleigh McGoskey was still in 14th at 14:04. St. Marys' Natalie Bartrug had made a move into 15th at 14:07. Chesnee Williams was in 16th at 14:08 with Cassie Cumberledge matching that time in 17th. Riley Sotomayor was in 18th at 14:09. Sydney Anderson matched that time at 14:09. Katie Collins was still in 20th at 14:10.
Coming onto the track, Alyssa Sauro was all alone. She powered away down the stretch in a race against the clock, and she won that race as well, just slipping under the 18:00 barrier with a 17:59.62. No one else was on the track yet. When they did come into site, we could see that we were going to have a race for the 2nd spot. Bella Boggs came onto the track in that position, and a big surge from Cassie Sites had her in close pursuit. The duo would hold those spots in a race around the track with Boggs just holding the spot by a second to take the runner-up spot in 19:39. Sites' big push, which it looks like came mostly in the last half mile, landed her the 3rd spot in 19:40. Katie Cottrill held the 4th spot in 19:50 with Virginia Haddox in pursuit, taking 5th in 19:54. Anna Bennett moved into 6th in 20:03 with Destiny Berryman taking 7th in 20:16. Bailey Holden maintained the 8th spot in 20:19 with Ava Lightfritz keeping 9th in 20:22. Jenna Barnett got the close she needed to take the final podium position in 20:26. Bentlee Williams used a big kick in the last 70 meters to re-take the 11th spot in 20:48. Katie Hicks was 12th in 20:51. Ritchie's Andrea Davis had a huge last mile to move from 21st to 13th, finishing in 21:17. Dakota James was also a 21:17 in taking the 14th position. Hadleigh McGoskey was 15th in 21:21. Riley Sotomayor moved up to 16th in 21:23. Natalie Bartrug was 17th in 21:27. Sydney Anderson moved up to 18th in 21:28. Chesnee Williams was 19th in 21:29, and Katie Collins rounded out the top 20 in 21:34.
How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was ok. I missed the team champion as Williamstown pulled off the upset, but no team finished more than one spot off their predicted finish, though there were 3 swaps in the mix. Individually, I got the Champion right (but who didn't?). I also got 9 of the top 10. That dropped to just 12 of the top 15 being correct but rebounded to hit 22 of the top 25. On average, runners finished with 3.64 places of their predicted finish. That's over a full place better than last year and may well be be a record. Those one who fought her way onto the podium was Doddridge's Bailey Holden (picked 11th, got 8th). Those who rose into the top 25 were Ritchie's Andrea Davis (picked 26th, got 13th), Buffalo's Cami Samples (picked 33rd, got 22nd), and Tucker's Addie Moats (picked 32nd, got 23rd). The biggest mover on the day was Ritchie's Andrea Davis, who moved up 13 spots from her predicted 26th place finish to her actual 13th place finish. The biggest team improvement came from Ritchie County who scored 13 fewer points than predicted.
In searching for the MVP, when you have a close battle for the top, I have to look there, particularly when it goes against the predicted outcome. There actually wasn't a single move that made the entire difference, but there was one that was very critical to the upset. As has already been mentioned, this particular runner had a huge finish moving up 4 spots from the mid-way point to the finish and 3 from the 2 mile mark to the finish. Moving up 3 spots doesn't sound like a lot, but two of those passes were Doddridge runners, making that final mile a 5 point swing in what ended as a 7 point win. She ran an exceptional race when it was neeed, and for that reason, the 2023 RunWV MVP is Williamstown's Cassie Sites.
I offer my congratulations to the Williamstown girls. You believed in yourselves, and you came out and did your jobs. You closed in the final mile when it was time to close with 6 of 7 athletes either holding their position or moving up. You've made it two in a row and three of the last four, and with the entire front 7 back next year, things look good.
I offer my congratulations to Alyssa Sauro. It was a dominant performance. You could have cruised for the win, but you attacked the race and left absolutely no doubt. It was another individual title that was well-earned.
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 don't mean a thing. That's why we run the race.