Meet: AAA Boys State Meet Predictions
Location: Cabell Midland High School
Date: To be held October 28, 2006
Predicted AAA Boys Team Results
For me, this is probably the most exciting race of the day. Any of four teams
could walk out with the title. Better bring your 'A' Game boys. Wheeling Park
has sat at the top of the rankings for about the last 2/3 of the season. University
unperched them for a week at one point. Fairmont Senior has been coming on strong.
Cabell Midland generally peaks well and has home course advantage. These four
will be gunning for each other the whole way. Every spot will matter. I've got
Wheeling Park coming out a mere four points ahead of Fairmont Senior, who in turn
is only seven points ahead of University, who is only seven points ahead of Cabell
Midland. This one will be fun. Jefferson looks like a fairly solid 5th, ahead of
Regional mates Elkins and Hampshire, but if Hampshire has all their guys hit an
"on" day at the same time, they could rise to 5th, just as the won the Regional
title.
1. Wheeling Park 77
2. Fairmont Senior 81
3. University 88
4. Cabell Midland 95
5. Jefferson 126
6. Elkins 147
7. Hampshire 149
8. Parkersburg 191
9. Capital 229
10. George Washington 237
11. Parkersburg South 247
Predicted Boys AAA Top 25
This race seems to have tightened up a bit. At mid-season, I would have called
Ryan Beabout a runaway winner. Now, I'm thinking it's going to be close, especially
with Bias running at home. I'm still going with Beabout, though. He's yet to be
beaten by an in-state Class AAA runner this year. David Bias was exceptional at his
regional meet, and a similar performance could help him pull off the upset. David
Ciarolla is the defending champion and has really started to get back into the form
that got him that title a year ago. Cory Hampshire has been very strong since a
distastrous meet in early September and could definitely finish higher. I really
feel like those are the four that have shots at the individual title. Spots five
through ten belong to the NCAC, and they could get mixed up any which way. Alex
Zurbuch has been very solid throughout the season. Eric Frohnapfel is a returning
All-State performer that is also very consistent. Josh Feather worries me as a
possibility to crack the top three. Chris Cole is another very steady performer.
His disciplined running earned him All-State honors last year. Ethan Harris was
beat Frohnapfel, Feather, and Cole at the Conference Meet and could definitely
move up. Mike Kwasniewski is sort of silent assassin of the group. You never hear
anyone talk about him, but he's always up there in the mix. I think you're looking
at a meet in which any of the top 17 could easily crack the top 10. Anyone outside
that group would be a pretty big surprise. This race will be a lot of fun, especially
considering the team race factoring into everyone's determination level. The
predicted top 25 are as follows:
1 1 Beabout, Ryan 11 Wheeling Park
2 2 Bias, David 11 Cabell Midland
3 3 Ciarolla, David 10 Fairmont Senior
4 4 Hampshire, Cory 10 Jefferson
5 5 Zurbuch, Alex 11 Elkins
6 6 Frohnapfel, Eric 12 University
7 Feather, Josh 12 Preston
8 7 Cole, Chris 11 University
9 8 Harris, Ethan 10 Fairmont Senior
10 9 Kwasniewski, Mike 12 Elkins
11 Waybright, Corey 12 Ripley
12 10 Meadows, Cass 12 Cabell Midland
13 Pritt, Craig 10 Preston
14 11 Blanc, Brian 12 Park. South
15 Long, Matt 12 Morgantown
16 Skidmore, Andrew 12 Robert C. Byrd
17 12 Vincent, Sam 12 Parkersburg
18 13 Binotto, John 10 Hampshire
19 14 Bennett, Jason 10 Wheeling Park
20 15 Gramlich, Kyle 10 Wheeling Park
21 16 Haldeman, James 11 Fairmont Senior
22 17 Ledden, Chris 11 Jefferson
23 18 Queen, Nolan 9 Cabell Midland
24 19 Woodruff, Adam 11 Geo. Washington
25 20 Bergstein, Julian 12 University