I'll be doing the recap a little different this year. Since video is available for each race, there's really no need for me to type out a description of how it happened. You can watch the video if you want to see how the race played out.

Additionally, for Class AAAA, I'll only be making note of All-Time State Meet Performances and not Class AAAA All-Time State Meet Performances. As this was the first year of Class AAAA, this year's Top 10 is the Top 10 All-Time, and every winner is a new State Meet Record.

100 Meter Dash
Morgantown's Benjamin Fink got out well and held off a late push from Martinsburg's Jhaylin Lansdowne and Jefferson's Tony Allen to take the win 11.19 to Lansdowne's 11.21 and Allen's 11.26. One of my predicted placers did not compete.
RunWV's Current Score: 5 of 8.

200 Meter Dash
Martinsburg's Jhaylin Lansdowne surged into the lead coming out of the turn and maintained it down the stretch. The race was closer than the time indicate as Jefferson's Tony Allen shut it down a few meters from the finish line. Lansdowne's 21.53 is the 10th Best All Time State Meet Performance. Allen still went well under 22 with a 21.82. Huntington got a big 3rd place finish from Sean Andrews, who finished in 22.35. Two of my predicted placers did not run. Another of my predicted placers qualified 6th but did not run the finals, leaving just 7 placers.
RunWV's Current Score: 11 of 16.

400 Meter Dash
University's Keion Arnold overtook Parkersburg's A.J. Payne with about 30 meters to go to take the win in 48.34, which is the 7th Best All-Time State Meet Performance. Payne also came in under 49 seconds with a 48.77. Huntington's Sean Andrews scored 3rd with a 49.64, Spring Mills' Douglas Mayer was 4th in 49.73, and Parkersburg's Landen Deuley was 5th in 49.97.
RunWV's Current Score: 17 of 24.

800 Meter Run
Morgantown's Joaquin Summers took the field out fairly aggressively, touring the first lap in 55.96. In 5th place, over 2 seconds back at 58.02 was Woodrow Wilson's Vance Lindley. Lindley immediately pulled into 4th just after the line and moved into 3rd mid-way through the first turn. The top 3 closed up on Summers with about 200 to go. Hedgesville's Reagan Hardin pulled just about even with Summers as they came out of the turn, but Lindley was swinging wide to make it a 3 wide race with about 95 meters to go. Lindley pulled to the front shortly thereafter and pulled slightly away down the stretch for the win in 1:55.07. Summers got away from Hardin for 2nd in 1:55.84 with Hardin 3rd in 1:56.05. Hurricane's Paxton Haddox was 4th in 1:57.08. A very close battle for 5th took place over 2 seconds behind this group. 0.35 seconds separated 5th from 8th. One of my predicted placers scratched the event. Lindley had the fasted 2nd lap in the field by over 2 seconds with a 57.05 close. Lap 1 - Summers, Hardin, Haddox, Mincks, Lindley, Gainer, Samuel, Conroy. Finish - Lindley, Summers, Hardin, Haddox, Samuel, Barthlow, Elswick, Mincks.
RunWV's Current Score: 23 of 32.

1600 Meter Run
The field was out pretty got with the top 3 under 63 and the top 8 under 64. Morgantown's Joaquin Summers took the lead on the backstretch of lap 3 and led by over a second heading into the final lap. He'd extend that lead on the final lap to take the win in 4:15.11. University's Micah Gainer closed well to move into 3rd in 4:18.44. Hurricane's Paxton Haddox moved from 9th to 4th on lap 3 and then into 3rd at the end with a 4:18.77. University's Ethan Conroy clocked a 4:19.25 for 4th with Parkersburg's Carter Thorpe in 5th with a 4:19.98. Cabell Midland's Dylan Dial ran a gutsy race, leading through 2 laps and in 2nd after 3 but ran out of gas and settled for 6th in 4:20.43. Lap 1 - Dial, Summers, Gainer, L.Conroy, E.Conroy, Thorpe, Baker, Young. Lap 2 - Dial, Summers, Gainer, E.Conroy, Thorpe, L.Conroy, Griffin, Young. Lap 3 - Summers, Dial, Gainer, Haddox, E.Conroy, Griffin, Thorpe, Young. Finish - Summers, Gainer, Haddox, E.Conroy, Thorpe, Dial, Giffin, Young.
RunWV's Current Score: 30 of 40.

3200 Meter Run
A closer than expected race saw the top 3 start to break away on lap 4 and turn that into a nearly 8 second lead on the field by the end of lap 6. At the end of 7 laps, it was still a 3 man race with just 0.79 seconds separating the trio with University's Micah Gainer in the lead followed by Spring Mills' Isaiah Griffin and Cabell Midland's Dylan Dial. Griffin made a play for the lead just after the line but Gainer fended him off. On the backstretch, those two dueled and gapped Dial. In the final 200, Gainer pulled slightly away from Griffin, closing in 61.71 to take the win in 9:10.91. Griffin took the 2nd spot in 9:12.66. Dial easily held 3rd in 9:18.68. Parkersburg's Carter Thorpe gapped his group on lap 7 and held them off on lap 8 for 4th in 9:29.30. Woodrow Wilson's Kyle Peters outkicked University's Logan Conroy for 5th 9:30.07 to 9:31.75. Lap 1 - Gainer, Peters, Griffin, Dial, Shrewsberry, McLain, Baker, Conroy. Lap 2 - Gainer, Griffin, Dial, Peters, Shrewsberry, Baker, McLain, Conroy. Lap 3 - Gainer, Griffin, Dial, Baker, Peters, Shrewsberry, Conroy, Thorpe. Lap 4 - Gainer, Dial, Griffin, Peters, Baker, Conroy, Thorpe, Shrewsberry. Lap 5 - Dial, Griffin, Gainer, Peters, Conroy, Thorpe, Baker, Shrewsberry. Lap 6 - Dial, Gainer, Griffin, Peters, Conroy, Thorpe, Baker, Shrewsberry. Lap 7 - Gainer, Griffin, Dial, Thorpe, Peters, Conroy, Baker, Shrewsberry. Finish - Gainer, Griffin, Dial, Thorpe, Petesrs, Conroy, Baker, Shrewsberry.
RunWV's Current Score: 38 of 48.

110 Meter High Hurdles
University's Kaleil Lewis took the lead coming off #8 and pulled away for the win in 14.53. Huntington's Carter Geveke came up to 2nd in 14.77. Huntington's Mason Little had a slight lead lead before clubbing #8 which dropped him to 3rd in 14.79. Cabell Midland's Dillon Plymale was a close 4th in 14.87. Everyone else was almost a second behind. One of my predicted placers false started in the trials.
RunWV's Current Score: 44 of 56.

300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles
Huntington's Carter Geveke took the lead coming out of the turn and pulled well away for the strong win in 37.48. That is the Best All-Time State Meet Performance, taking down a mark from 1990. Huntington got a big 1-2 finish as Freshman Kellen Rife closed really well to secure 2nd place in 38.59. University's Jaedyn Katchur got out really well and led through 200 meters and held 3rd in 39.43. Huntington added to their 300 IH brilliance with a 4th place finish from Mason Little, who clocked a 39.73 in Heat 1. 23 points for Huntington in this event.
RunWV's Current Score: 50 of 64.

4x100 Meter Relay
The Huntington unit of Mason Little, Tayveon Wilson, Antonio Paschall, and Bodhi Warner pulled away for the win in 42.75 giving that unit the 10th Best All-Time State Meet Performance. Martinsburg wasn't far back in 42.96 for 2nd. Musselman was 3rd in 43.06. Morgantown and Jefferson also clocked in under 43.40 in taking the next 2 spots.
RunWV's Current Score: 57 of 72.

4x200 Meter Relay
Martinsburg made up the stagger on everyone to their outside by the time they reached the backstretch on the 3rd leg, and then they handed to Jhaylin Lansdowne who put things away. The Martinsburg group of Mason Walley, Collin Schaffner, Devon Bell, and Jhaylin Lansdowne scored the win by nearly 2 seconds in 1:27.85, which is the 2nd Best All-Time State Meet Performance and nearly the first, missing matching that mark by just 0.05. Musselman held off Parkersburg for 2nd 1:29:56 to 1:29.61. Morgantown outdueled Spring Mills for 4th, 1:30.71 to 1:30.80. 2 of my predicted placers were DQ'd.
RunWV's Current Score: 63 of 80.

4x400 Meter Relay
Midway through the season, I was pretty sure who would win this. Then 3 teams dropped sub 3:25's (two sub 3:24) at the Regional. But I held firm, and Parkersburg rewarded my confidence. They opened with a 49.8 from Landen Deuley, followed that with 50.3 from Gavin Bowman, but Huntington got a stellar leg from Kellen Rife, who I estimate at 49.2 (can't see the middle of the exchange zone on the video) to pull close. Rogan Mincks maintained the lead for Parkersburg and extended it a big with a 51.9 leg. They performed an absolute textbook handoff, and A.J. Payne completely blitzed the anchor leg, dropping a 47.7 anchor to give the Parkrersburg group of Landen Deuley, Gavin Bowman, Rogan Mincks, and A.J. Payne a 3:19.70. That is a new All-Time Best State Meet Performance crushing the old mark (Parkersburg from last year) by 2.83 seconds. Huntington got a 49.3 anchor leg from Sean Andrews to secure 2nd place and a tie for the Team Title. Their group of Carter Geveke, Kellen Rife, Brock Brown, and Sean Andrews clocked a 3:22.58, which give them the 3rd Best All-Time State Meet Performance. Morgantown had to claw their way back from 5th place (nearly 6th) after two legs to move into 3rd to secure their half of the tie for the Team Title with a 3:24.98. Musselman was 4th in 3:25.60, and Spring Mills was 5th in 3:26.84.
RunWV's Current Score: 70 of 88.

4x800 Meter Relay
University opened quickly with Ethan Conroy producing a 1:58.72 opening leg. Cabell Midland got a 1:59.15 second leg from Jacob Barthlow tom ove from 5th to 2nd. Morgantown got a 1:59.29 leg from Kayden Taylor to move from 6th to 3rd. The top 4 were separated by under 2.5 seconds. Cabell Midland got a 1:56.52 from Ethan France on leg 3 to move into the lead, but Morgantown got a 1:59.02 from Timothy Samuel to keep them within 3 seconds, and they'd be handing to Joaquin Summers. Summers came through, quickly erasing that lead, moving to the front before the end of the 1st lap. He'd pull away with a 1:53.02 leg to seal the win for the team of James Stacy, Kayden Taylor, Timothy Samuel, and Joaquin Summers. Their 7:54.94 is the 8th Best All-Time State Meet Performance. Colson Elswick gave Cabell Midland a 1:58.94 anchor to secure 2nd in 7:57.93. University got a 1:56.65 from Micah Gainer to hold 3rd in 8:03.48, and they needed it because Hurricane got a 1:55.52 from Paxton Haddox to make it close at 8:04.22. Woodrow Wilson got a 1:59.48 from Vance Lindley to maintain the 5th spot in 8:12.07. Hedgesville got a 1:56.71 anchor from Reagan Hardin.
RunWV's Current Score: 76 of 96.

Shuttle Hurdle Relay
Huntington led much of the race, but it was about even heading into the final leg, and Mason Little got the job done as the Huntington unit of Carter Geveke, Johnathan Garrett, Kellen Rife, and Mason Little took the win in 56.61. University was close in 2nd with a 56.80. Only Woodrow Wilson and Cabell Midland joined them under 60 seconds. 2 of my predicted placers got hit with a DQ.
RunWV's Current Score: 82 of 104.

High Jump
Morgantown's Joel Moreland picked up the win by clearing 6'4 on his 2nd attempt, and no one else was able to clear the height. Woodrow Wilson's Kingston Clark was clean through 6'2 to take 2nd. Parkersburg's Javel Chandler and Spring Mills' Robert Livingston also cleared 6'2 in taking the next 2 spots.
RunWV's Current Score: 88 of 112.

Pole Vault
Spring Mills' Russell Day vaulted cleanly through 13'6 to take the win. University's Sam Wannemacher cleared 13'6 on his 1st attempt, but had a prior miss to take 2nd, and Huntington's James Cook cleared 13'6 on his 2nd attempt for 3rd. Morgantown's Joel Moreland was the only other vaulter to clear 13'0.
RunWV's Current Score: 95 of 120.

Long Jump
Riverside's Josh Brock snagged the win on his final attempt with a leap of 21'10.25 to move from 2nd to 1st. Morgantown's Isaiah Thompson opened with a 21'9 that held up for 2nd. Cabell Midland's Dillon Plymale had one good jump, one bad jump, and 4 fouls, but the good one was 21'7.25, good for 3rd. Everyone else was a nearly a foot behind.
RunWV's Current Score: 101 of 128.

Shot Put
Parkersburg's Drey Grinter sent his first attempt 54'4.25, and that easily held up for the win. He had 5 legal throws, and 4 of them were good enought o win. Washington's Maurice Charles scored 2nd with a 51'5.75. Huntington got a 3-4 finish from Max Bohren and Tayveon Wilson with Wilson moving from 6th to 4th on his 5th throw.
RunWV's Current Score: 107 of 136.

Discus
Washington's Maurice Charles was sitting in 7th place heading into the final round, but he sailed his final attempt 163'0 to move into the lead by over 5 feet, and no one else was able to top that on their final attempt. Morgantown's Justin Carlton was the portrait of consistency with 5 legals throws, all between 154'0 and 157'6. Cabell Midland's Carson Boggs also topped 150 with a 155'7, and University's Zayden Burt hit 150'0 for 4th.
RunWV's Current Score: 113 of 144.

The final score of 116 of 144 means that 78.5% of the people picked to place did indeed place. That is 3 worse than last year. Of course, I had 4 predicted placers that didn't run, and 5 predicted placers that got disqualified. Sheesh. I only had 1 event in which I got all 8 placers, and that was the 3200. Congratulations to those that proved me wrong.

Exceeding Predictions
The following athletes exceed my predictions by 3 or more places and deserve special mention.

Antonio Paschall, Huntington -- 100 M (not picked, got 5th)
Devon Bell, Martinsburg -- 100 M (not picked, got 6th)
Sean Andrews, Huntington -- 200 M (not picked, got 3rd)
Myles Walters, Woodrow Wilson -- 200 M (not picked, got 6th)
Vance Lindley, Woodrow Wilson -- 400 M (not picked, got 6th)
Timothy Samuel, Morgantown -- 800 M (not picked, got 5th)
Jacob Barthlow, Cabell Midland -- 800 M (not picked, got 6th)
Reed Dolin, Morgantown -- 110 HH (not picked, got 5th)
Mason Little, Huntington -- 300 IH (not picked, got 4th)
Huntington -- 4x100 Meter Relay (picked 6th, got 1st)
(Mason Little, Tayveon Wilson, Antonio Paschall, Bodhi Warner)
Parkersburg -- 4x200 Meter Relay (picked 6th, got 3rd)
(Gavin Bowman, Javel Chandler, Landen Deuley, A.J. Payne)
Huntington -- 4x400 Meter Relay (picked 6th, got 2nd)
(Carter Geveke, Kellen Rife, Brock Brown, Sean Andrews)
Jefferson -- 4x800 Meter Relay (not picked, got 6th)
(Jordan Baker, Matthew Hayes, Jacob Hickey, Levi Young)
Cabell Midland -- Shuttle Hurdle Relay (picked 8th, got 4th)
(Zavion Beckett, Dillon Plymale, Christian Louden, Joanthan Little)
Kingston Clark, Woodrow Wilson -- High Jump (picked 5th, got 2nd)
Javel Chandler, Parkersburg -- High Jump (not picked, got 3rd)
Robert Livingston, Spring Mills -- High Jump (picked 7th, got 4th)
Sam Wannemacher, University -- Pole Vault (picked 5th, got 2nd)
James Cook, Huntington -- Pole Vault (picked 7th, got 3rd)
Josh Brock, Riverside -- Long Jump (picked 5th, got 1st)
Antonio Paschall, Huntington -- Long Jump (picked 8th, got 5th)
Max Bohren, Huntington -- Shot Put (picked 6th, got 3rd)
Tayveon Wilson, Huntington -- Shot Put (not picked, got 4th)
Zayden Burt, University -- Discus (not picked, got 4th)

The following teams deserve kudos for scoring seven points or more higher than I predicted.

Class AAAA Boys
Huntington           +44 - I'm not going to research, but this is almost assuredly a record.
Woodrow Wilson       +13
Riverside            + 8