AAA Boys Individual Event Predictions 100 M 1. Rusty Taylor Riverside 2. Gordon Newsome Huntington 3. Sloan Baisden Buckhannon Upshur 4. Seth Amos Parkersburg South 5. Jeremy Maley Jefferson 6. Josh Durham Morgantown Taylor has placed in states each of the last two years and has beaten Newsome in the two most recent head to head match ups. Newsome has the fastest machine time this year and Baisden the fastest hand time. Amos has been very consistent throughout the year and any of the top four could easily take first place. Maley and Durham have both ran good hand times this year with Maley having a few more low clockings. Lurking on the outside after a good regional is freshman Daniel Barnes of George Washington who could easily grab a place. 200M 1. John Saunders Cabell Midland 2. Seth Amos Parkersburg South 3. Gordon Newsome Huntington 4. Eric Dorsey Jefferson 5. Josh Brown Jefferson 6. Jeremy Maley Jefferson Saunders has the fastest time in the state this year and has run consistently fast. Ever consistent Amos has a number of times under 23. Newsome has the second best time among qualifiers but barely escaped the regionals. After that comes the Jefferson speed brigade. Dorsey, Brown and Maley all have a number of good times to their credit and have been consistently below or at 23 flat. Again, Daniel Barnes of George Washington should be in the mix and Josh Durham of Morgantown could also slip into the placers. 400M 1. Jon Saunders Cabell Midland 2. Marty Barnes George Washington 3. Gordon Newsome Huntington 4. Bobby Clise Martinsburg 5. Eric Dorsey Jefferson 6. Caleb Crosby South Charleston Saunders and Barnes had exactly the same regional clockings. We gave the edge to Saunders on speed and he placed last year (6th). Newsome has beaten Saunders head to head during the season and his pure speed gives him great upside potential. Clise has the fastest clocking in the state this year (49.7) and would be no surprise in 1st. Dorsey beat Clise in the regionals and has been getting consistently better. Crosby is currently about 1/2 second back from the rest of the field and should have plenty of people gunning at him for the final slot including teammate Bane. 800M 1. Brad Dodson Martinsburg 2. Brandon Scarberry Cabell Midland 3. Daniel Rodgers Hedgesville 4. Jeff Jones Capital 5. Mike Sturm North Marion 6. Julian Spraggins University Dodson has the fastest time in class this year and has run this before at the state level. Scarberry has run consistently well in the event and has the states second best time this year. Both Dodson and Scarberry will have ran a hard mile prior to the race. Rodgers won his region and is the only other runner to go under 2:02 so far this year in the open. Jones easily won his region and Sturm surprised many by doing the same. We picked Spraggins for the final slot due to his good 400 speed. There are many people vying for the last several spots and it would not be a shock to see someone not picked above to grab a top 3 slot. Top contenders for that surprise include Miller of Hampshire, Smith of Parkersburg South and Ryan of Preston. 1600M 1. Brad Dodson Martinsburg 2. Brandon Scarberry Cabell Midland 3. Jonathan Miller Hampshire 4. Bobby Johnson Hurricane 5. Eric Cooper Cabell Midland 6. Joseph White Elkins Dodson has the best clocking in the event this year and placed 3rd in the event last year. Scarberry is in a group of runners who have ran 4:34 this year and we like his 800 speed. Miller and Johnson are also in that group of 4:34 runners with Miller also having good 800 speed. Cooper and White are part of a big group of runners that have hit in the 437/438 range this year. Cooper has 3 times under 4:39 and has been consistent. White had a good regional and was picked for the last slot. Hobbs of Woodrow Wilson, Sturm of North Marion and Casto of Nitro are among the contenders that have a good shot at the last few spots. 3200M 1. Eric Cooper Cabell Midland 2. Greg Cooke Cabell Midland 3. Andy Wilcox Hampshire 4. Jon Nelson Cabell Midland 5. Steve Johnson Elkins 6. Jake Green Jefferson Cooper (3 times) and Cooke are the only two runners in the field to break the 10:00 barrier this year. Wilcox won the hot region II meet. Nelson won his region as well. Johnson and Green were close on the heels of Wilcox in Region II both going under 10:02. Thomas Hobbs of Woodrow Wilson won his regional and placed 6th in the event last year and is dangerous. Mike Wakim of Wheeling Park and Bryan Hooten of Preston also have a very good shot at a spot. 110H 1. Matt McDaniel Hurricane 2. Chad Jordan Cabell Midland 3. Aleka Carr Parkersburg 4. Aaron Willis George Washington 5. Aaron Hoard University 6. Daniel White Capital McDaniel has the states 4 best times this year but Jordan is right on his heels (and occassionally ahead of him). McDaniel took 3rd and Jordan 5th in last years state meet event. Carr ran well at regionals and has been consistent. Willis ran the event at regionals and managed to pull off a great finals. Lack of experience in the event could hurt him, but we like what we see so far. Hoard won his regional and White also had an excellent regional time. Cody Jarrett of John Marshall, Mahmoud Gao of Hurricane and Jason Grammo of Jefferson are among others that could easily be in the mix. 300H 1. Marty Barnes George Washington 2. Matt McDaniel Hurricane 3. Chad Jordan Cabell Midland 4. Aleka Carr Parkersburg 5. Sloan Baisden Buckhannon Upshur 6. Chad Grant Hedgesville We will start of discussion of this event with a name not on the list. Ryan Vucelick of John Marshall has the fastest listed time in the event this year in the state, but regional clockings and events ran lead us to believe he may be injured. If healthy, he is among the top contenders and could easily win and took second in last years event. Marty Barnes has been consistenly good in this event and has more times under 40.4 than anyone. The 400 is a concern but we think the hour and a half time between the events will be enough. McDaniel (5th) and Jordan (3rd) both placed in the event last year with McDaniel having slightly better times this year. Carr is also a contender but has only one time under 41 this year (but it was at regional). Baisden is fast enough to take a win in the event and he and Grant probably have better sprint speed than anyone else in the field. Grant has two times under 41 this year, one of only 4 to have that distinction in this class. Josh Stroop of Musselman placed 6th last year in the event and could grab a spot again. 4x100 1. Jefferson 2. Parkersburg South 3. Huntington 4. Martinsburg 5. George Washington 6. Cabell Midland Jefferson seems to have more sprinters than anyone in the state this year and puts them to good use in this event. They clocked the top regional time and are the only team with two marks below 44. Parkersburg South and Huntington had a great regional battle with South having a better series of times this year. Martinsburg has the fastest time in the state this year but were hampered at regionals by an injury to top sprinter Jesse Keyser (who pulled out of 100/200 finals). If he is healthy, they could take first and take second even if still a little injured. Regardless, they will be a contender for a spot even if he is unable to run. George Washington has 5 times under 45, one of only two schools to do so and their consistency is very likely to land them higher up the list as dropped batons and pulled hammies are the norm. Cabell Midland put it together at regionals and we gave them the edge of Parkersburg who they beat at regionals (even though Parkersburg has a better best time) 4x200 1. George Washington 2. University 3. Parkersburg South 4. South Charleston 5. Martinsburg 6. Jefferson Again, George Washington has been consistently fast all season. They have 5 times under 133 and no one else has more than 3. University has the fastest time in the state this year and 4 very solid 200 runners. Parkersburg South has 3 times under 133 this year and they, along with South Charleston all seem to have a good shot at winning. Martinsburg is facing the same injury as in the 4x100 (see above) but could still be very good. Jefferson could load up the 4x200 to make a probable winner (we picked 3 of the team to place in the 200) but haven't really loaded the team this year and we don't expect them to do this at states either since their athletes are capable of helping in a number of other events such as shuttles and longer relays. Woodrow Wilson seems to be next in line along with Wheeling Park if Jefferson should fully download. 4x400 1. Jefferson 2. Cabell Midland 3. Martinsburg 4. South Charleston 5. University 6. Hedgesville 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, it looks to be a great race this year with at least 6 teams capable of going under 3:30. Jefferson has the fastest time in the state this year by nearly two seconds and could go a little faster. Never count Midland out of a 4x4 as they always seem to come through. Martinsburg has a number of good middle distance athletes and might be able to load a little faster and South Charleston is also very strong. University has the 5th best time in the state this year. Hedgesville seems to have just enough to hold off Wheeling Park, Preston and Parkersburg. 4x800 1. Cabell Midland 2. Martinsburg 3. Hedgesville 4. Preston 5. Wheeling Park 6. Hampshire See the 4x4 above for comments about loaded teams vs. regional times, etc. Cabell Midland and Martinsburg seem to have the best shot at the top spot if they load their teams as we suspect. Give Midland a slight edge as they have a number of runners they can turn to for the final couple spots. Hedgesville has the second best time in the state this year and edge Martinsburg in regionals. Preston and Wheeling Park have the 4th and 5th best times this year and each should be able to go a little faster at full throttle. Woodrow Wilson, Parkersburg South, North Marion and Parkersburg also seem to be able to be a player in the event. Shuttle 1. Cabell Midland 2. Hurricane 3. Parkersburg South 4. Jefferson 5. John Marshall 6. Parkersburg This event is always tough to call. Each team has four chances to foul 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. Midland's excellent regional has seemed to put them a hurdle ahead of the rest of the field. Hurricane and South are tied for the second best time in the state this year. South took the regional, but Hurricane has a better time series and we like McDaniel closing. Jefferson seems to be getting better daily. John Marshall could be picked as high as second if fully healthy. Parkersburg is the only remaining team with two marks below 60. A huge group of contenders are waiting should any of these teams falter. H Jump 1. Allen Byard John Marshall 2. Josh Boone Preston 3. Ricky Sell North Marion 4. Chris Reese Huntington 5. Seth Townsend Parkersburg South 6. Matt McDaniel Hurricane Byard has cleared 6.04 3 times this year, the most of anyone in the field. Boone (twice) and Sell (once) have also cleared 6'4. They each placed in the state meet last year as well (5th, 3rd and 4th respectively). Reese has cleared 6 at least 5 times this year (one of only four to do this). Townsend has been jumping his best in May. McDaniel has cleared 6.02 but only cleared 5.10 in regionals and may have options on the Hurricane team. Jeb Smith of Elkins is the only other jumper to go over 6 this year (6.01). L Jump 1. Bryan Miller Hedgesville 2. Aaron Willis George Washington 3. Carl Williams Jefferson 4. Justin Wood Wheeling Park 5. David Fortney Wheeling Park 6. Aaron Hoard University Miller has the best jump in the state this year and four marks over 21 feet. Willis has two marks over 21 feet and a better series of jumps than Williams who has a slightly better top jump and a better regional. Willis placed 5th in the event last year and has experience on his side. Wood is the only other jumper to clear 21. Fortney has 4 jumps over 20. Hoard has 3 jumps over 20 and none of the other contenders have more than two (McDonald of Parkersburg). P Vault 1. Chris McGhee Nitro 2. Robert Kozul East Fairmont 3. Matt Smith Hedgesville 4. Eric Mather Parkersburg South 5. Justin Smith University 6. Chris Seidler Wheeling Park McGhee has the best jump and at least 5 marks of 13'0 or greater. The only other vaulter to hit 13'0 is Kozul. McGhee took 3rd in last years event. Matt Smith has more 12'6 vaults than the remaining competitors and Mather the most jumps over 12'0. Of the remaining vaulters, Justin Smith has been the most consistent with at least 5 marks of 11'6 or better. A ton of contenders for the last spot, but we went with Seidler due to his regional performance. Discus 1. Chris Boggs St. Albans 2. Zack Morrison Cabell Midland 3. Adam Newman Buckhannon Upshur 4. Nate Sowers Martinsburg 5. Ray Parrish North Marion 6. Ryan Moore Hedgesville Boggs seems to be about 10 feet ahead of the field but can't be off too far as Morrison and Newman have both gone over 156 this year. The three placed 4th, 6th and 5th respectively last year. Newman has a better top throw, but Morrison a more consistent series. Sowers is the only other thrower over 150 (twice). Parrish has the next best throw and has gone over 147 twice. Moore is the only other thrower over 147 this year. Alex Bennett of Hedgesville, Andrew Starsick of North Marion and Isaiah Hayes of South Charleston have all gone over 145 and are ready to claim a position. Shot 1. Zach Morrison Cabell Midland 2. Ryan Moore Hedgesville 3. Darren Wilburn St. Albans 4. Alex Bennett Hedgesville 5. Micah Saunders Cabell Midland 6. James Brown Parkersburg Morrison has the states best toss this year and 4 throws over 50 feet. Moore has been extremly consistent (4 throws over 48). Wilburn has the classes only other throw over 50 feet (in regionals) and seems to be coming on at exactly the right time. Bennet has a good series of 48/47 foot throws and placed 6th last year. Saunders has the third best mark in the class with a 49 footer in April. Brown has 3 marks over 147. Paul Johnson of Parkersburg has the 4th best throw in the class and another toss like that will likely land him among the placers. High Point Predicitons 1. John Saunders Cabell Midland 24.5 2. Brad Dodson Martinsburg 23.5 3. Gordon Newsome Huntington 21.5 T4.Marty Barnes Geo Washington 21 T4.Matt McDaniel Hurricane 21