Meet: A-AA Boys State Meet Predictions Location: Mineral Wells, WV Date: To be held October 30, 2004 Predicted A-AA Boys Team Results Ravenswood has once again established itself as the favorite with a strong lead group showing 3 of the top 9 runners in the individual rankings and exceptional depth that features 10 ranked runners overall. Their only downfall could be receiving the low end of some inconsistent performances. Scott appears to be solidly in 2nd with about equal chances of winning the whole thing or moving down, with neither being particularly likely. Frankfort, Doddridge, and Ritchie will battle for 3rd. Frankfort and Ritchie both looked very good at their regional meets. Doddridge holds a head-to-head advantage over both. 1. Ravenswood 46 2. Scott 78 3. Frankfort 108 4. Doddridge 115 5. Ritchie 123 6. Charleston Catholic 142 7. Tucker 186 8. St. Marys 195 9. Richwood 204 10. PikeView 255 11. Independence 285 Predicted Boys A-AA Top 25 Once again, the LKC is the place to be. 7 of the top 10 runners in the individual rankings are from the LKC, including the top 3. Andrew Benford missed over a month with a stress fracture and came back to win his regional meet by 15 seconds over 3rd ranked Jarren Morlan. Is he at 100%? Who knows, but it may not matter. Michael Hardbarger is the most likely to pose a threat. Hardbarger won the LKC title in Benford's absence turning an impressive 17:08 on Ritchie's challenging course. He also has outstanding closing speed. If Hardbarger can keep it close for 2.9 miles, we could see the upset. Jarren Morlan has been strong all year and was an easy second at the LKC meet, leading until about 400 meters to go. He should be a solid 3rd with potential to move up. Things get muddy after the top 3. Levi Grandt was outstanding through the first half of the season. Illness and nagging injury have hampered him lately, but he still managed to finish 2nd in his region. Brandon Miles has been inconsistent but had an excellent showing at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational and at last year's State Meet. However, he only scored a 5th in his regional meet. Jose Schultz was also exceptional early on. He's struggled lately but is capable of scoring a top 3. Ben Wise is another impressive Freshman who has been very steady throughout the season. David Orejuela is only ranked at # 12 on the rankings but his recent meets have been very strong, taking 3rd at the LKC meet and winning his region by 15 seconds. Straten Schemel has also been strong throughout. He's had a couple subpar meets, but has looked very good in the post-season. Zack Noel has been a little inconsistent but generally strong and will have to run well to hold off another 7 or 8 guys who very easily could take a top 10 spot. The predicted top 25 are as follows: Place Score Name Year Team 1 1 Benford, Andrew 11 Ravenswood 2 2 Hardbarger, Michael 12 Ritchie 3 X Morlan, Jarren 12 Braxton 4 3 Grandt, Levi 9 Doddridge 5 X Miles, Brandon 11 Grafton 6 4 Shultz, Jose 12 Scott 7 5 Wise, Ben 9 Ravenswood 8 6 Orejuela, David 11 Doddridge 9 7 Schemel, Straten 12 Ritchie 10 X Noel, Zack 10 Winfield 11 8 Chambers, Joe 12 Ravenswood 12 9 Sheets, Jason 12 Scott 13 X Natow, John 12 Liberty Harr. 14 X Null, Matt 12 Poca 15 X Wilson, Brian 10 Oak Glen 16 10 Jones, Tim 12 Richwood 17 11 Sheridan, James 11 Chas. Catholic 18 12 Lanigan, Clancy 12 Frankfort 19 13 Templeton, Jesse 11 St. Marys 20 14 Gray, Kurt 9 Ravenswood 21 15 Beckner, Ian 12 Tucker 22 16 Dier, Shawn 12 Frankfort 23 17 McGee, Chris 11 Scott 24 18 Stump, Jonah 12 Ravenswood 25 19 Blair, Jamie 12 Chas. Catholic