Remember, this is only how it looks from the rankings heading into the regionals. This is not a prediction based on any analysis of races held during the season. If a team has fewer than five ranked runners, it is assumed that their first unranked runner would finish five places behind the last ranked runner, their second unranked runner would finishe ten places behind the last ranked runner, etc. Runners run above and below their ranking in every meet, and the Regionals will be no different. The important thing is that if you have five runners, get them to the starting line. Your region may be depending on you.
Region I: This Region should advance four teams. Actually, it should advance five, but the WVSSAC capped it at 4. 2-5 gets two, 6-9 gets three, 10+ gets four. It seems to me that 10-13 should get 4, and 14-17 should get 5. This Region actually has 14 complete teams. It could be an interesting race for qualification. Williamstown and St. Marys should battle for 1st with Williamstown appearing to have the edge. I show North Marion and East Fairmont taking the other two spots, but I feel like there are 8 teams that could squeeze into one of the positions. Individually, the current top 10 includes Maggie Drazba, Emma Harrison, Kelsey Chambers, Kristen Mastrantoni, Alexis Virtue, Emily Gordon, Cami Mosser, Andrea Chidester, Brenda Palmer, and Christa Harshberger. Runners within 90 points of those top 10 who aren't on an expected advancing team that will be trying to score a spot are Braxton's Kristen Gateless (11th), Ritchie's Amanda Davis (13th), Cameron's Rena Reid (14th), and Tyler Consolidated's Amber Watson (17th). There are 46 ranked runners in Region I, all of whom would be expected to advance in Region III.
Region II: This region should advance three teams. Philip Barbour appears to have the top team in the group. Frankfort and Bridgeport should battle for 3rd. Berkeley Springs has a shot at one of the spots, but they'll have to run really well and/or hope somebody else runs very poorly. Individually, the current top 10 includes Katie Jan, Brianna Waybright, Morganne Phillips, Marissa Long, Allison Villers, Katie Mahoney, Ashley Cassidy, Abbie Barnett, Rachel Fulks, and Julianna Butcher. Runners with 90 points of the top 10 who aren't on an expected advancing team that will be trying to steal a spot are Berkeley Springs' Sara Younker (11th), Berkeley Springs' Kinsey Reed (12th), Liberty Harrison's Hannah Ramirez (13th), Grafton's Kaelyn Drainer (16th), Tucker's Madison Mullenax (17th), and Berkeley Springs' Danielle Haynes (18th). There are 42 ranked runners in Region II, all of whom would be expected to advance from Region III.
Region III: This Region will probably advance two teams. There is a chance that only one team could advance as there is only one team that has consistently run complete teams. For purposes of this review, I'm going to assume that at least one other team runs a complete squad. The two that are most likely to advance are PikeView and Richwood, with Pikeview having the edge. I can't give a current top 10 because there are only four ranked runners in Region III. The current top 4 includes Brianna Mazella, Amelia Sebok, Katelyn Odle, and Sophie Klein. There are no other ranked runners hoping to steal an individual spot. There are 4 ranked runners in Region III.
Region IV: This should should advance three teams. Again, we have a team or two that is a little shaky, and if any of them don't get five runners to the starting line, only two will advance. Scott appears to be the top team in the field. Ravenswood appears to have a very solid grip on the 2nd spot. Nicholas and Charleston Catholic should battle for the final spot. I show Nicholas with a 10 point edge. Individually, the current top 10 includes Hailey Miller, Kylie Rutherford, Brittany Green, Taylor Treadway, Sheena Chambers, Lexi Griffith, Aidan Payton, Hannah Murray, Courtney Goodwin, and Samantha Graffius. Runners within 90 points of the top 10 who aren't on an expected advancing team that will be trying to jump into an individual spot are Charleston Catholic's Sami Harris (11th) and Charleston Catholic's Annie Crockett (13th). There are 21 ranked runners in Region IV, all of whom would be expected to advance from Region III.