The Class AA Boys continued the afternoon session. Doddridge was expected to take the title, and it was expected that Lincoln would not make it easy for them. That's pretty much exactly what happened as both teams rose to the occasion, scoring more than 10 points fewer than predicted. Doddridge remained on top, though, with an 11 point win. Lincoln was not challenged for 2nd despite a strong showing from Frankfort. Individually, Tyler Consolidated's Amos Kimble was expected to run away with the repeat title, and he did just that, taking the win by 19 seconds. Frankfort's Gavin McDonald was closer to him than any Class AA runner had been all season in taking 2nd place.

At the top of the hill at approximately 0.7 miles, Tyler Consolidated's Amos Kimble had already established a strong lead, coming through at 3:43. Summers' Dakota Pettry was in 2nd at 3:53 with Frankfort's Gavin McDonald matching that in 3rd. Tyler Consolidated's Travis Moore was in 4th at 3:54. Westside's Brody Lester was in 5th at 3:57. My apologies to him, and I kept blanking on who he was, and the big W on his jersey kept me thinking Williamstown. Ravenswood's Gavin Wilburn was in 6th at 3:59 with Doddridge's Carter Sias matching that in 7th. Ravenswood's Johnny Heath was in 8th at 4:00. Wayne's Dakota Henderson was in 9th at 4:02 with Doddridge's Samuel Gola in 10th at 4:03. Frankfort's Eric Alexander was in 11th at 4:04 with Lincoln's Carter Knight and Williamstown's Chase Pickering matching that time in 12th and 13th, respectively. Doddridge's Cory Swentzel was in 14th at 4:05 with Lincoln's Aiden Byers in 15th also at 4:05. Lincoln's Max Myers was in 16th at 4:06 with Williamstown's Jimmy Erlandson in 17th matching that time. Scott's Braydon Lane was in 18th at 4:09. Tyler Consolidated's Brody Nice was in 19th at 4:10 with Lincoln's Adrian Bott matching that in 20th.

At the Mile Mark, Amos Kimble had stretched his lead to 15 seconds at 5:13. Gavin McDonald had moved into 2nd at 5:28 with Dakota Pettry in 3rd at 5:29. Travis Moore was in 4th at 5:31 with Carter Sias now up to 5th at 5:32. Gavin Wilburn was in 6th at 5:33. Eric Alexander had made a nice move up to 7th at 5:38 with Brody Lester matching that time in 8th. Carter Knight was up to 9th at 5:41 with Samuel Gola in 10th and Cory Swentzel up to 11th with both at 5:42. Johnny Heath was in 12th at 5:43. Dakota Henderson was in 13th at 5:45. Max Myers was up to 14th at 5:48 with Chase Pickering and Brody Nice matching that time in 15th and 16th, respectively. Adrian Bott was up to 17th at 5:49 with Aiden Byers and Jimmy Erlandson matching that in 18th and 19th, respectively. Doddridge's Noah Bodkin had moved into the 20th spot.

Near the mid-way point (roughly at 1.4 miles), Amos Kimble beat me to the spot, so I don't have a time, but the lead was large. Gavin McDonald had taken complete control of 2nd place at 7:40. Carter Sias had made a nice move into 3rd at 7:48. Travis Moore remained in 4th at 7:50. Eric Alexander continued to move up, now in 5th at 7:53 with that time matched by Gavin Wilburn and Dakota Pettry in 6th and 7th, respectively. These 7 had gotten away from the field with an 11 second gap back to Carter Knight in 8th at 8:04. Brody Lester was in 9th at 8:05. Samuel Gola was in 10th, and Cory Swentzel in 11th with both at 8:06. Adrian Bott had made a large move up to 12th at 8:10. Dakota Henderson was in 13th at 8:11 with Max Myers matching that in 14th. Aiden Byers up to 15th at 8:12. Johnny Heath was in 16th at 8:13. Noah Bodkin was up to 17th at 8:14 with that time matched by Jimmy Erlandson and Doddridge's Colton Key. Brody Nice was in 20th at 8:15.

At about 1.8 miles, Amos Kimble was still well out front at 9:41. Gavin McDonald was easily in 2nd at 9:58. Carter Sias remained in 3rd at 10:09. Eric Alexander was up to 4th at 10:14. Travis Moore was in 5th at 10:15. Gavin Wilburn was in 6th at 10:18. Dakota Pettry was in 7th at 10:23. Carter Knight remained in 8th at 10:34. Samuel Gola was up to 9th at 10:36 with Adrian Bott up to 18th at 10:38 and Cory Swentzel still in 11th at 10:39. Dakota Henderson was in 12th at 10:41 with that time matched by Aiden Byers in 13th and Brody Lester in 14th. Max Myers was in 15th at 10:47. Colton Key was up to 16th at 10:47. Jimmy Erlandson was in 17th, and Noah Bodkin was in 18th.

At the two mile mark, Amos Kimble beat me to the spot as did Gavin McDonald. Those two were very secure in their positions. Carter Sias was in 3rd at 11:17 but Eric Alexander had closed the gap a little coming through at 11:21. Travis Moore remained in 5th at 11:26 with Gavin Wilburn in 6th at 11:28. Dakota Pettry was in 7th at 11:37. Samuel Golas had moved into 8th at 11:48 with Cartern Knight matching that in 9th. Adria Bott was in 10th at 11:50. Cory Swentzel was in 11th at 11:53. Aiden Byers was in 12th at 11:54 with Brody Lester in 13th at 11:55. Dakota Henderon was in 14th at 11:56 with Max Myers matching that in 15th. Colton Key remained in 16th at 12:00. Jimmy Erlandson was in 17th at 12:04. Noah Bodkin was in 18th at 12:06. Philip Barbour's Jacob Burner had moved into 19th at 12:07, and Brody Nice was in 20th at 12:10.

Coming onto the track, Amos Kimble was all alone, and he cruised to the 19 second win in 16:32. Gavin McDonald had 20 seconds on 3rd place, coming through in 16:51. Eric Alexander had made the pass into 3rd to finish in 17:11. Carter Sias was not threatened for 4th, finishing in 17:19. Travis Moore was easily 5th in 17:30. Dakota Pettry held the 6th spot in 17:51. Samuel Gola picked up another spot to finish 7th in 17:54. Gavin Wilburn was 8th in 18:00. Adrian Bott moved up to 9th in 18:05. Brody Lester closed well in the last mile to move back into that final podium spot in 18:13. Dakota Henderson also finished well to move into 11th at 18:15, the front of a tight group of 4. Aiden Byers and Max Myers moved up to 12th and 13th for Lincoln with both at 18:16. Cory Swentzel was 14th in 18:17. Carter Knight was 15th in 18:21. Jimmy Earlandson was 16th in 18:22, just ahead of Colton Key in 17th at 18:23. Noah Bodkin was 18th in 18:27. Jacob Burner held the 19th spot in 18:33, and Brody Nice took the final medal position in 18:33.

How did RunWV do on the predictions? It was an adequate set. I got the Team Champion, and hit the top 3 teams in order. There was a lot of movement after that, though, as 4-5 swapped, 6-7 swapped and a couple teams finished two more spots off their predicted placement. Individually, I got the Champion and Runner-Up correct, and I got 9 of the top 10. That dropped to 12 of 15 and just 21 of 25. On average, runners finished within 7.98 spots of their predicted finish. That's 1.34 worse than last year, which was 1.5 worse than the prior year. These guys were all over the place with 31 runners finishing at least 10 places different and 7 finishing at least 20 places different than their predicted spot. Ouch. The runner who worked his way onto the podium was Doddridge's Samuel Gola (picked 11th, got 7th). Those who climbed into the top 25 were Philp Barbour's Jacob Burner (picked 26th, got 19th), Independence's Jeffery Watson (picked 27th, got 21st), Frankfort's Johnny Jackson (picked 38th, got 23rd), and Lincoln's Jonathan Folmbsbee (picked 28th, got 25th). The biggest mover of the day was South Harrison's Brennen Myers who rose 30 spots from a predicted 62nd place finish to an actual 32nd place finish. From a team standpoint, I'm doing that a little differently this year. The team that scored the largest percentage better than their predicted score gets that nod rather than the team that lowered their score by the most points. This was pretty close as four teams outperformed by over 15%. But the highest of those was Frankfort, who outperformed by 18.9%.

In searching for the MVP, there wasn't a single person who made the difference at the top. There wasnt' a single person that preserved a podium spot. That puts me considering the 4-5 and 6-7 swaps, but really, I like hitting this toward the top where those podium positions are determined. I'll admit to a little home-cooking on this one. I'm going to go with a guy that got injured at his conference meet after taking a fall during that race. His hip gave him fits for the week after, and I considered holding him out of the Regional, but he wasn't having any of that. He set a PR at the Regional meet. I know the hip still hurt in the week between Regional and State, but he wasn't complaining. And he came out and rose 6 spots from his predicted spot to his actual spot and picked up an 2nd Team All-State Medal in the process. He battled continuously through the race to gain and maintain spots. Most importantly, he put 6 spots and 4 team points between him and Lincoln's #5. For his rise up the ranks and his determination, the 2025 RunWV MVP is Doddridge's Noah Bodkin.

I offer my congratulations to the Doddridge boys. You and Lincoln battled back and forth all season. You had an edge coming in, but things were not guaranteed. You were told you would need to brind your best effort. And you did need it as Lincoln scored 13 points better than predicted (and 1 point better than you were predicted). You rose to the occasion, outperforming prediction by 11 points. You put 2 in the top 10 and 5 in the top 20. You did everything you needed to do to get the job done and bring the title home.

I offer my congratulations to Amos Kimble. Back-to-back Champion. It's no easy feat winning a State Title, and it's even more difficult to do it twice. You pulled it off and in dominating fashion (again). Two titles and two blowouts. It was earned and deserved.

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 anything. That's why we run the race.