The Class AAA Girls race opened the noon session. The AAA races got the best weather of the day. The chill of the morning sessionss was gone and the warmth of the afternoon session had not yet arrived. The team battle was expected to be pretty tight with University given a slight edge over Cabell Midland and with Morgantown hoping to have a great day to play the spoiler. University took care of their business and outperformed their prediction by 11 points to turn a close battle into a fairly large victory. Cabell Midland did hold off Morgantown for the 2nd podium spot. Individually, Buckhannon-Upshur's Samantha Shreve was tabbed as the favorite, and she came through, holding the lead at every checkpoint, and extending it pretty much throughout. It was expected that the battle for the remaining podium positions would be very tight, and that is indeed what happened.

At my first checkpoint, at the top of the hill, which is at about 0.75 miles, Buckhannon-Upshur's Samantha Shreve had put a small gap on the field, coming through at 4:17. Cabell Midland's Savannah Pritt was in 2nd at 4:19 with Hurricane's Ella Hardin in 3rd at the same time. University's Abigail Rogers was in 4th at 4:20 with John Marshall's Zoe Zervos and Wheeling Park's Brenna Tipton matching that time in 5th and 6th, respectively. Jefferson's Hannah Phillips was in 7th at 4:21 with Greenbrier East's Neena McClintic matching that time in 8th. Musselman's Sadie Yates was in 9th at 4:22. Parkersburg's Morgan Metz was in 10 at 4:24 with Morgantown's Maraid Johnson matching that time in 11th. Huntington's Laurel Johnson was in 12th at 4:25 with Washington's Brooklyn Busch also at 4:25 in 13th. Cabell Midland's Emma Coakley was in 14th at 4:30 with University's Claire von Boetticher matching that in 15th. I think it was Cabell Midland's Maya Casto in 16th at 4:31. George Washington's Ava Mitias was in 17th at 4:33 with Preston's Hallie Simmons matching that in 18th. Cabell Midland's Delainey Burger was in 19th at 4:36 with that time matched by Morgantown's Allison Hawkins.

At the mile mark, Samantha Shreve still held about a 2 second advantage, coming through at 6:00. Savannah Pritt had taken control of 2nd at 6:02. Abigail Rogers, Ella Hardin, and Sadie Yates held the next three spots with each crossing at 6:05. It looked like Hardin had a funky step just after passing the mile mark, perhaps rolling an ankle. Hannah Phillips was in 6th 6:07. Zoe Zervos was in 7th and Brenna Tipton was in 8th with both at 6:08. Maraid Johnson was in 9th with Morgan Metz in 10th and Neena McClintic in 11th with each at 6:10. Laurel Johnson was in 12th at 6:14. Brooklyn Busch was in 13th at 6:15. Emma Coakley was in 14th at 6:19 with Allison Hawkins in 15th also at 6:19. Hallie Simmons was up to 16th at 6:21. Claire von Boetticher was in 17th at 6:23 with that time being matched by teammate Caroline Ballard who had moved up to 18th. Morgantown's Lauren Hawkins was in 19th at 6:25 with Ava Mitias in 20th at 6:27.

Near the midway point, Samantha Shreve had really started to open a gap. The 2 second lead had grown to 6 seconds with Shreve coming through at 8:24 and Savannah Pritt passing in 2nd at 8:30. Abigail Rogers was now alone in 3rd at 8:34. Sadie Yates had moved up to 4th at 8:38. Zoe Zervos was in 5th at 8:39 with Hannah Phillips matching that in 6th. Maraid Johnson was up to 7th at 8:41 with that time matched by Brenna Tipton in 8th and Ella Hardin in 9th. Morgan Metz was in 10th at 8:42. Emma Coakley had moved into 11th at 8:49. Allison Hawkins was up to 12th at 8:51 with that time matched by Laurel Johnson was in 13th. Brooklyn Busch was in 14th at 8:52. University's Rosalia Biundo had made a nice move up to 15th at 8:55. Hallie Simmons was in 16th at 8:56. Claire von Boetticher was in 17th at 9:02. Lauren Hawkins was in 18th at 9:06. Caroline Ballard was in 19th at 9:08 with Ava Mitas in 20th at 9:12.

At around 1.8 miles, Samantha Shreve has further extended her lead, passing by at 10:54. Savannah Pritt remained in 2nd at 11:04 with Abigail Rogers still in 3rd at 11:08. Sadies Yates was in 4th with Zoe Zervos in 5th with both at 11:16. Hannah Phillips was in 6th at 11:17 with Brenna Tipton in 7th at 11:18. Morgan Metz had moved up to 8th at 11:20. Maraid Johnson was in 9th at 11:23 with Ella Hardin in 10th at 11:24. Emma Coakley remained in 11th at 11:29 with Allison Hawkins still in 12th at 11:33. Hallie Simmons had made a move up to 13th at 11:34 with Laurel Johnson in 14th at 11:35. Rosalia Biudno was in 15th at 11:3 with Brooklyn Busch matching that time in 16th.

At the 2 mile mark, Samantha Shreve continued to push her lead out, coming by at 12:08. Savannah Pritt was still holding the 2nd spot at 12:22 with Abigail Rogers still in 3rd at 12:26. The trailing group had really tightened up putting all the next spots very much in play. Zoe Zervos was now in 4th at 12:34 with Sadie Yates and Hannah Phillips matching that in 5th and 6th, respectively. Brenna Tipton was in 7th and Morgan Metz was in 8th with both at 12:35. Five spots separated by less than 2 seconds. Ella Hardin had moved back into 9th at 12:43 with Maraid Johnson in 10th at 12:47. Emma Coakley remained in 11th at 12:51 with Allison Hawkins still in 12th at 12:55. Hallie Simmons matched that time in 13th. Rosalia Biundo had moved up to 14th at 12:57 with Brooklyn Busch matching that time in 15th. Laurel Johnson was in 16th at 12:58. Claire von Boetticher was in 17th at 13:11 with Caroline Ballard back up to 18th in 13:13. Lauren Hawkins was in 19th at 13:16, and Morgantown's Sophia Schneider had moved into 20th at 13:17.

At the finish, Samantha Shreve was never threatened and got to savor breaking the tape in 18:27. Abigail Rogers made the pass in the final mile to take the 2nd spot in 18:40. Savannah Pritt held onto the 3rd spot in 18:49. Hannah Phillips pulled away for the 4th spot in 19:03. Morgant Metz moved up to 5th in 19:07. Brenna Tipton took the 6th position in 19:09. Zoe Zervos scored the 7th spot in 19:13. Sadie Yates held the 8th spot in 19:22. Hallie Simmons made a couple late passes to snag the 9th position in 19:27. Maraid Johnson picked up the final podium spot in 10th in 19:29. Ella Hardin slipped past Emma Coakley for 11th right before the line with both recording a 19:32. Laurel Johnson climbed back up to 13th in 19:41. Rosalia Biundo was 14th in 19:43. Brooklyn Busch was 15th in 19:49. Sophia Schneider moved up nicely in the final mile to take 16th in 20:02. Claire von Boetticher held 17th in 20:06 with a charging Caroline Ballard right behind in 20:17 for 18th. Washington's Caeley Trujillo stepped up into 19th late, also in 20:07. Ava Mitias just held onto the final award spot, taking 20th in 20:14, holding off a late push by two runners for the spot.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was not a particularly good set. I got the team champion correct. In fact, the top 5 all finished in order. However, My 8 and 9 moved up to be 6 and 7, and no team after #5 finished in their predicted spot. Individually, again I got the champion correct, but as I said in the predictions, there were about 15 girls that I wanted to put in the top 10, and naturally, I got some of them wrong. I only got 7 of the top 10. That improved to getting 13 of the top 15, but then fell back to only getting 20 of the top 25. On average, runners finished within 6.15 spots of their predicted finish, which is over 0.8 better than last year but still not where I like it to be. The three runners who moved onto the podium were Parkersburg's Morgan Metz (picked 15th, got 5th), John Marshall's Zoe Zervos (picked 11th, got 7th), and Preston's Hallie Simmons (picked 14th, got 9th). Those who climbed into the top 25 were Morgantown's Sophia Schneider (picked 27th, got 16th), George Washington's Ava Mitias (picked 32nd, got 20th), Cabell Midland's Adalyn Cantrell (picked 26th, got 21st), Preston's Ava Simmons (picked 28th, got 22nd), and University's Elizabeth West (picked 40th, got 23rd). The big mover of the day was the aforementioned Elizabeth West who climbed 40 spots from her predicted 40th place finish to her actual 23rd place finish. There was a trio of teams that scored 20 or more points better than predicted with Washington scoring 25 better and Preston scoring 29 better, but it was Jefferson that had the biggest rise of the day, scoring 30 points under their predicted score.

In searching for the MVP, I always look toward the top first, and while it wasn't 100% the difference maker, I'm going there anyway. With one of their top runners completely on the shelf, and another partially hobbled by injury, University needed a big performance from someone. They got it. They won by 18 points, but if this runner had finished in her predicted spot, it's a 1 point ballgame. For her clutch performance, the 2024 RunWV MVP is University's Elizabeth West.

I offer my congratulations to the University girls. You were the team to beat all season, but injuries put things in doubt. You could have let nerves get the better of you, but you did your jobs and got a clutch performance from your #5 to break Morgantown's stranglehold on the title.

I offer my congratulations to Samantha Shreve. Injury kept you from this meet last year, so we didn't get to see where you stacked up. There was no such concern this year. You rolled through the season, running strong and confident throughout, and the State Meet was no different. You didn't let the early pressure of a couple competitors get to you, and you pulled away over the 2nd half of the race to win convincingly. It was a victory celebration that was well deserved.

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.