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 three places behind the last ranked runner, their second unranked runner would finishe six 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 three teams. Parkersburg and University appear to be the ones likely to battle for the Regional title. Parkersburg comes in with the higher ranking, in part because University gave away a lot of points Saturday. Morgantown looks like the most likely 3rd place team. I show them 20 points ahead of Preston. Individually, the top 10 by current rankings are Brody Born, Cameron Greza, Nick Musgrave, Andy Paladino, Colin Radabaugh, Seth Edwards, Sean Snider, Tim Funk, Albert Schrimp, and Nick Cheuvront. Only one runner within 90 points of those top 10 who isn't on an expected advancing team and will be trying to score a spot. That is John Marshall's Dylan McKeag (11th). There are 45 ranked runners in Region I.
Region II: There teams should advance from this Region. Jefferson appears to be far in front of the rest. Hampshire appears to have a fairly solid grip on 2nd. The battle for the 3rd spot should be between Elkins and Musselman. The rankings show Elkins taking the spot by 4 points, but with only 4 ranked runners, they're susceptible. Musselman's points are more solid, and they may come out ahead in this battle. For anyone else to take a spot, it will take a banner day. Individually, the current top 10 include Ryan Graf, Andrew Milliron, Austin Hamrick, Shane Rigsby, Jackson Jacobs, Casey Feezle, Zach Wiberg, Matt Taylor, Rhett Zillinger, and Matt Wallace. Runners within 90 points of the top 10 that aren't on an expected advancing team that will be trying to steal a spot are Musselman's Austin Jenner (12th), Martinsburg's Vladimir Bauer (13th), Hedgesville's Mike Higinbotham (15th), Musselman's R.J. Stephens (20th), and Martinsburg's David Sullivan (20th). There are 34 ranked runners in Region II.
Region III: It looks like this Region will also advance three teams. Ripley looks to be the strongest team in the field. Oak Hill looks like they have a fairly solid grip on the 2nd spot. The 3rd spot should be a battle between Greenbrier East and George Washington. Greenbrier East comes out ahead using the rankings, so that's what I'm going with for this analysis. However, it should be noted that they're number 2 and 3 ranked runners have each only run in 1 meet that I've seen, so it's highly likely that George Washington takes that spot as I only have a two point difference between the two. Individually, the current top 10 includes Matthew Brafford, Wes Stowers, Levi Snedegar, Chad Longanacre, Caleb Casto, Cody Gillespie, Tyler Kosut, Jake Casto, Chad Hollandsworth, and Ryan Gregory. Runners within 90 points of the top 10 that aren't on an expected advancing team that hope to snag an individual spot are Capital's Marshall Sharp (11th), Shady Spring's Justin Harper (15th), and George Washington's Marcus Taylor (16th). There are 30 ranked runners in Region III.
Region IV: This Region should advance three teams. Cabell Midland is again far and away the top dog in the region. It looks like Hurricane and Huntington should battle for the 2nd spot. Winfield will look to play the spoiler role. They have more depth than Huntington, so they could move into that 3rd spot. Individually, the current top 10 includes Jacob Burcham, Avery Campbell, Jack McGee, Jeremy Waugh, Brian Lawhon, Andrew Short, Sam Smith, Chandler Smith, Nick Salmons, and Eric Wooten. How deep is Midland? Wooten likely isn't one of the Regional participants (based on MSAC results). Runners within 90 points of the top 10 that aren't on an expected advancing team include Winfield's Stone Bellomy (12th) and St. Albans' Jake Henley (21st). There are 38 ranked runners in Region IV.