Lance McDaniel

Highlighting seasonal rankings for Boys 6A in advance of this weekend's State Championship meet.

Highlighting seasonal rankings for Boys 1A in advance of this weekend's State Championship meet.

Highlighting the top Boys performers in Mcalester 1A Regional for All Events during the 2026 Outdoor Season.

Best in State: Top Boys Class of 2028 performers in All Events from Oklahoma

Best in State: Top Boys Class of 2029 performers in All Events from Oklahoma

Ranking the top Boys returners for Mcalester 1A Regional ahead of the 2026 Outdoor Season.

A look at the returning athletes positioned to shape this year’s outdoor season.

A look at the returning athletes positioned to shape this year’s outdoor season.

WV Runners staff member and my son, Lance McDaniel, competed in the Thunder Road Half Marathon on Saturday in Charlotte, NC along with 2,385 other runners and came out on top in his first competitive half marathon with a time of 1:14.30  for a 5:41 mile pace over the 13.1 miles. Read the article below from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. McDaniel conquers Charlotte half marathon

    Barry Franklin photo courtesy of West Virginia Wesleyan   Barry Franklin of West Virginia Wesleyan College and Lance McDaniel of Concord University came into the Duke University Invitational ranked #1 and #2 in the WVIAC Conference 3000m Steeplechase. Franklin , ranked #1, had the previous West Virginia Wesleyan College Steeplechase record of 9:37.41. Franklin has also set personal bests marks in his last 5 races. McDaniel's previous best steeplechase time was 9:50 and the Concord University record was 9:46.60 set by Ryan Kent in 2008.  On Saturday, Franklin and McDaniel were in the same heat and both set school records as Franklin's school record time was 9:34.51 while McDaniel closed the gap on the two and set the Mountain Lions new record in 9:38.50. This looks to be one of the highly contested events at the WVIAC Conference championship.   Lance McDaniel after breaking the Concord 3000m Steeplechase record   Shawnee Carnett of Concord University continues to impress and break records when she steps on the track. Carnett won the 3rd heat of the 800m run by passing the entire field on the last lap as she went around the field in the 3rd lane in the first two turns and accelerated past everyone to stake her claim to another lady Mountain Lion record with a 2:12.34.   Megan Savioli of Concord University who is a powerful runner that gets up on her toes and goes did just that as she set the new Concord University 400m hurdle record in1:09.98.   Other West Virginia Wesleyan school records were set by Meghan Zayas in the steeplechase (11:09.57), Morgan Bennett in the 400 meter hurdles (64.02),  and Kevoy Douglas in the 200 meter dash (21.67).   Glenville State College also had a runner break a record on the day. Glenville State’s Ahkeem Figgs broke the Men’s 100 Meter dash with a time of 10.62 at the W& J  Invitational, the record was held by GSC Chup Robinson and Xavier Glenn with a time of 10.69.

Marietta, OH -- WVIAC athletes and teams competed well and came away with several first place finishes at the Marietta Open #3 which had over 21 colleges and other unattached individuals racing. Seton Hill placed 4th overall for the women with 76.5 pts with Amanda Ponsonby leading the way by taking first place in the pole vault with a vault of 11-00.25. The Unversity of Charleston ladies with 37 points finished in 9th with Christina Phillips winning the high jump with a jump of 5-03.75. Concord University lady Mountain Lions followed closely in 10th place with 35 points. The Concord ladies had two first place finishers as Erin Barnett won the highly contested 200m dash in 27.36, and Senior Amanda Blankenship won the crowded mile race by .18 seconds in 5:28.52. Blankenship missed a school record which she previously set by .05 seconds at the Marietta Alumni Open on February 6th of this year. On the men side, Concord University Mountain Lions placed 5th overall with 49 points. Red shirt junior Lance McDaniel took the victory in the 3000m in 9:10.82 while setting a personal best. Wheeling Jesuit placed 7th overall with 29 points.  Tied for 10th place was West Liberty State and the University of Charleston men in their last season of indoor. Terrence Spencer of the University of Charleston made it a sweep for the WVIAC in the 200m as he won in a fast 23.42.

                      Photos by Meredith McDaniel Carter WHEELING, W.Va)---Concord's men and West Virginia Wesleyan's women used solid team efforts to earn titles at the WVIAC Cross Country championship.  The Mountain Lion men placed five runners in the top ten to hold off West Virginia Wesleyan 37-59.  Wesleyan's women's had three finishers in the top six as they finished ahead of Wheeling Jesuit 37-61. Eric Cooper runs away with the individual title.Photo by Fred Jordan

The Concord Mountain Lions put on an awesome display of teamwork and unity as eight runners crossed the line within a span of .10 seconds and claimed the top 10 spots for a perfect score of 15 points. The lady lions also claimed 1st place with a perfect score and their race will be discussed later in the article. Concord University

The River Ridge District from southwest Virginia is staking a claim as one of the best and most competitive AA districts in the Commonwealth. Numerous athletes from the River Ridge are on top of the double A rankings. Four of the State

Adam Dickerson of Franklin County refused to allow being overscheduled to interfere with his plans for the Metro Cross Country Invitational Saturday afternoon. Catherine White of Northside declined to allow being inexperienced stand in the way of her objectives at the same meet.

The 30th annual Metro Invitational will be held Saturday at Roanoke College

In the wake of Hurricane Isabel\'s destruction, many weekend invitationals were cancelled or postponed, but several invites in the Southwestern part of the state were able to go off as the area was not hit terribly hard by the storm.

The first true weekend of racing action for high schoolers kicked off with several in-state invitationals with plenty of top teams and individuals squaring off with one another in early season contests.

There appears to be eight elite runners that should make All-State. However, the next seven spots are wide open. The race for the top spot looks to be a two-man race unless a dark horse emerges.