AA-A Boys Individual Event Predictions 100 M 1. Jamie Moore Berkeley Springs 2. Chris Hampton Bridgeport 3. Josh Bowman Ravenswood 4. Chris Fleming Greenbrier West 5. Pat Galapon Shady Spring 6. Jeff Honaker Sissonville This event is wide open. Not quite as wide open as last year, but the winner could be nearly any of the above. Moore and Hampton had excellent regionals with Moore getting the slight nod for his better single race best this year. Bowman has been hand timed at 11.1 this year so don't count him out. Fleming just started running for the high school one meet before regionals and who knows what he has under the hood. Galapon was right behind him at regionals. Honaker has the fastest time this year in AA-A but doesn't have a single other race under 11.55 that we could find. If he does the 10.97 again, he should win. Roger Kupfer had an excellent region, Nick Young was the most steady of the other competitors and Jason Smith of Buffalo has turned in some good times. More than any event this year, everyone who qualified has a legitimate chance of placing. 200M 1. Shane Bosley Berkeley Springs 2. Josh Natali Magnolia 3. Chris Fleming Greenbrier West 4. Jarrod Pittman Mount Hope 5. Rance Everly Oak Glen 6. Jeff Nuzzolo Berkeley Springs This too should be a very interesting race. Bosely has some very fast accu track times to go up against Natali's 22.5 AA-A best. Bosely has been rounding into shape nicely recently and may be able to take it to the next level. Fleming is once again a wild card. The frosh could win it and there is no mistaking his speed. Pittman placed last year and performs well at the state meet. Everly should be right there as well. Nuzzolo has the next best times of any competitor. Nick Young has one time under 22.8, but no other times under 23.4. If he is back below 22.8 (or even under 23), he should place. 400M 1. Josh Bowman Ravenswood 2. Josh Natali Magnolia 3. Rance Everly Oak Glen 4. Jarrod Pittman Mount Hope 5. Chris Fleming Greenbrier West 6. Ben Kelley Williamstown Bowman's even faster than his 49.7 and he may be only behind Greenhowe regardless of class. Natali edged Everly at regionals and we went with that finish again but Everly could take the spot easily. Pittman won the event last year and burned us. He could so so again, but to do so, he'll need to be in the 49's (about a second faster than he has ever gone). We have only Flemings regional 52.2 to go on and we don't know how often he has ran this event. With his speed, a drop of a second or two would not be out of the question. Kelley is the only other runner to have gone under 52 this year. Schoolcraft of Pocahontas ran well at Gazettes and jump over several other runners. 800M 1. Chris Snell Ravenswood 2. Matt Quinet Magnolia 3. Seth Hauser Oak Glen 4. Ashton Nelson Independence 5. Michael King Richwood 6. Adam Benford Ravenswood Snell is the only runner in the class to go under 2:00 this year and has splited 3 additional sub 2's that we have witnessed. Quinet ran a sub 159 at states last year, but we think that the 1600 race may keep him from having the gas to keep up with Snell. Hauser has a ton of low times this year and may be poised for a breakthough. Nelso and King have been having a great battle recently for southern supremecy. Nelson's been to states before so we'll give him the slightest of edges. Benford has run a great time this year and could place much higher, but again, we're guessing that the mile may drain him of his kick. This event could unfold very interestingly as Chris Herron is out there somewhere and he ran a 1:58.52 to take 2nd in last year's state meet. We don't know if he's injured, been ill or laying back but if healthly, he will be a major factor in the race. 1600M 1. Justin Simpson Oak Glen 2. Matt Quinet Magnolia 3. Adam Benford Ravenswood 4. Scott Gemberling Grafton 5. Josh Sheets Doddridge 6. Chris Herron Liberty Raleigh Simpson is about 5 seconds faster than anyone else but can't have an off day as the field behind him is very competitive. Every runner behind him probably has more speed with Quinet, Benford and Herron having sub 2 800 speed. Quinet has been below 4:30 and Benford is at the door. Gemberling has edged defending champion Sheets recently and perhaps has an edge. If Sheets runs the race he did last year, he could move way up the list. Ditto for Herron who took 2nd in last year's race. If Herron is not fully up to speed, Adam Raper and Josh Simpson are the two most likely to step in. We are guessing that Snell will pull from this event to run the 4x400 to make that group a title contender. If he runs the mile, slide him in with those above. It should be a great race. 3200M 1. Justin Simpson Oak Glen 2. Josh Sheets Doddridge 3. Scott Gemberling Grafton 4. Josh Simpson Oak Glen 5. Chris Snell Ravenswood 6. Woody Snowberger Frankfort Simpson's top time is 25 seconds better than anyone else has ran so far this year and he has at least 5 times better than anyone else. Sheets is the defending champion and likely has enough in this event to fight off the rest of the field. The low 30's are not out of question for 2nd place and some runners will likely drop 10 or more seconds from their PR. Gemberling is just a step behind Sheets and could easily step up. Josh Simpson has 3 times better than the next person in the field. Snell has the speed to make this interesting for perhaps anyone but Justin Simpson, but hasn't been below 9:55 this year. Snowberger is the only other runner under 10:00 and no other runners have gone under 10:07. If Chris Snell doesn't run the 2 mile, Isaac Andrick (placed last year) and John Riffle could also slip in and have the ability to run sub 10's and could place anyway. 110H 1. Brad Keys Winfield 2. Josh Natali Magnolia 3. Shane Bosley Berkeley Springs 4. Joe Ielapi Bridgeport 5. David Decker Lincoln 6. Jeff Bennett South Harrison Keys has the fastest time this year and more times below 15 than anyone else in the class. Natali is strong and also has beaten Liston who we picked to win the AAA meet. Bosley looked to have the event won last year before falling so all 3 could wind up on top. Ielapi is steady and improving to lead the rest of the field. Decker and Bennett should make 4 for 4 from region 2. Bennett will need to run at least as well as he did at regionals or hurdlers like Belancic, Neely, Forsythe and Clagg will be howling at his feet and in hot pursuit. 300H 1. Brad Keys Winfield 2. Shane Bosley Berkeley Springs 3. Zack Linville Ritchie 4. Justin Clagg Wayne 5. Joe Ielapi Bridgeport 6. Matt Thalman Wheeling Central Keys and Bosley should stage a great battle here with the mid 39's probably needed to win. Keys has the best times this year, but Bosley is the defending champion. Linville has by far the 3rd best time this year, but will need to overcome his inexperience at the state meet level and return to his LKC form. Clagg, Ielpai and Thalman should be close for the final 3 spots. With them being placed according to their best times and series of times this year. All are improving and could catch Linville. With 42's very likely to place at states this year, at least 6 more runers have a good shot at placing. 4x100 1. Berkeley Springs 2. Williamstown 3. Sissonville 4. Bridgeport 5. Wheeling Central 6. Oak Glen Berkeley Springs has posted the two best times in this event and have 3 guys that we picked to place in the 100/200 so we know they are fast. If they get their handoffs down, they should win. Williamstown is the only other team to break 45 this year. Sissonville has Honaker and Smithson to build off on and could well push not only Williamstown, but Berkeley Springsa as well. Bridgeport has the next best time and wheeling Central won their region and seem to be picking up speed at every turn. Oak Glen has the 5th best time in the state this year. Winfield and Tyler are just a step back and could be there as well. 4x200 1. Oak Glen 2. Tyler Consolidated 3. Ravenswood 4. Ritchie 5. Wheeling Central 6. Bluefield Oak Glen has been under 1:34 3 times this year and has the top 2 times. Tyler has also been under 1:34, but will need every inch to compete with Oak Glen and stay ahead of the rest of the field. Ravenswood has been under 1:35 4 times and Ritchie is the only other team to do it once. Wheeling Central's accu tracked regional time was just .01 slower than Bluefield's hand timed regional so took Wheeling Central. If Ritchie doesn't run the same squad that posted the low times earlier this year, Mount Hope will be the first team wating and could place regardless. 4x400 1. Ravenswood 2. Oak Glen 3. Williamstown 4. Doddridge 5. Magnolia 6. Winfield When it comes to the relays, we try to guess who will be running since teams often load up at states for possibly the first time all year. That is often why you will see picks that seem to be out of order with regional and best times. With that said, Ravenswood seems to have what it takes to edge past a great Oak Glen team who seems well head of the field. If Chris Snell runs the mile and 2 mile, he won't be running this and that might be enough to knock them down a few notches. We're guessing he runs this (but don't know). Williamstown has a stable full of very solid 400 runners and could also win if things go perfectly. After that, the field bunches up quite a bit and Doddrige, Magnolia and Winfield seem to be able to put together the next best teams. Wheeling Central has ran some great times and they might have more available to them than we can find (it wouldn't be the first time) and should also challenge. As always some team will probably load up for the first time and burn us, but there is no way to predict that (yet!). 4x800 1. Ravenswood 2. Williamstown 3. Grafton 4. Oak Glen 5. Doddridge 6. Ritchie See the the 4x4 above for comments about loaded teams vs. regional times, etc. Ravenswood has two runners that could place in the open and look strong. Williamstown has the best time this year and has 4 very good runners on their team. Grafton is similar in that they have 4 good runners, but no one likely to place in the open. Oak Glen has Hauser to help them into 4th. Doddridge may be able to come close to Oak Glen and Ritchie looks to be another several seconds back. Scott is a wildcard here. Fully loaded against tough competition may bring out a nice result for them. Shuttle 1. Magnolia 2. Winfield 3. Sissonville 4. Tyler Consolidated 5. Bridgeport 6. Meadow Bridge This event is always tough to call. Each team has four chances to false start (8 counting trials) and has to jump 110 meters of hurdles each along the way. Every year, major competitors get gunned down for false starting, leaving to early or someone crashes into a heap. Magnolia has the best time this year and won their regional. Winfield and Sissonville had a great regional battle and Winfield might be able to clip Magnolia. Tyler is the only other team under 1:01 this year. Bridgeport is the only remaining team under 1:02 this year. Meadow Bridge won their regional handily and may be able to move higher. Oak Glen, Lincoln and Ritchie have also been under 1:03 this year and a 1:02 may place. H Jump 1. Eric Belancic Wheeling Central 2. Stephen Zirilli Richwood 3. Derek Underwood Doddridge 4. Dave Gsell Tucker 5. Adam Mason Berkeley Springs 6. Matt Fischer Bridgeport Belancic has 3 jumps at 6'6 or better. No one else has been that high. Zirilli could come close. Underwood has cleared 6'4 more than any other jumper and Gsell got 6'4 at the region. Mason has jumped higher than 6'0 3 times but has no jumps over 6'2. Fischer and Matt Wrigth are the only other jumpers to clear 6'2 more than once. Fischer's jumps have come later in the season. Jeffery Honaker of Sissonville has also cleared 6'2 this season. L Jump 1. Chris Hampton Bridgeport 2. Tony Flinn Williamstown 3. Aaron Long Magnolia 4. Stephen Zirilli Richwood 5. Jacob Lilly Gilmer 6. Daniel Watson Buffalo Hampton has the longest jump of the season and Flinn has the most 21+ foot jumps. Long has one of the ten best leaps of all time in class AA-A at last year's state meet but hasn't been healthy this year. Any could win if they are healthy. Zirilli has began to jump consistently well. Lilly has two jumps over 20 feet this year, they only remaining jumper to do so. Watson won his regional and we don't have many results for Buffalo this year. He could go higher or lower. Nick Morgan and Zane Bodnar have gone over 20' this year and Josh Goad and Steven Mitchell were close. P Vault 1. Nick Morgan Ritchie 2. Dustin Mutschelknaus Liberty Harrison 3. Justin Gaiser Tyler Consolidated 4. Wesley Billups Williamstown 5. Darren Turner Grafton 6. Josh Wiethe Wheeling Central Morgan has cleared 13' 3 times, the only survivor of regionals to clear that height. Mutschelknaus is the only other jumper to have gone over 12'6. Gaiser and Billups have both jumped 12'0 with Gaiser having better second jumps. Turner and Weithe are the only other jumpers to have cleared 11'6 this year and are close with Turner's higher jumps coming more recently. David Chipps, Adam Petryszak and Willie Sarine have all cleared 11'0 this year and that might be what it takes to place. Discus 1. Ryan Burdette Poca 2. Zac Hall Williamstown 3. Tristian Crookshank Liberty Raleigh 4. Eric Reed Ravenswood 5. Brady Henger Ritchie 6. Brad Wilt Doddridge Burdette's regional toss of 163'5 put him ahead of the field and one inch over the state record if he can repeat the throw. The field is very strong this year. Hall was 3 last year and has more throws over 150' than anyone in the field. Crookshank has the 2nd best throw of the group. Reed has been throwing well and on the average has thrown slightly better than Henger. Wilt has the next best throw and series of throws. Travis Shreve, Tony Flinn, Travis Emch and Aaron Barnette have all gone over 142' this year and could place as well. Shot 1. Brad Wilt Doddridge 2. Travis Emch Magnolia 3. Ryan Burdette Poca 4. Tony Flinn Williamstown 5. Nick Henderson Paden City 6. Tristian Crookshank Liberty Raleigh Strangely enough, Of the 5 defending champions in AA-A Wilt is the only one we picked to repeat. He has at least 5 throws over 51' and only Emch has even crossed 50' this year. Burdette has 5 throws over 47' and no one else has more than 2. Flinn and Henderson are very close with Flinn having a few more long tosses on the year. Crookshank is the next farthest thrower with nearly 1/2 on the rest of the field. Steve Barrett is the only other thrower over 48' this year. High Point Predicitons T1.Shane Bosley Berkeley Springs26.5 2. Josh Natali Magnolia 26.5 3. Justin Simpson Oak Glen 23 4. Brad Keys Winfield 22.25 5. Josh Bowman Ravenswood 20