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 (or five) places behind the last ranked runner, their second unranked runner would finish six (or 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. If you have 7, get them to the line. If you only have 3, get them to the line. Your region may be depending on you.
Region I: This Region should advance three teams. University looks to be the big dog in the Region with 5 of the top 8 ranked runners. Wheeling Park should easily handle the 2nd spot. They're really an excellent team that no one is talking about because of how good University and Hurricane are. Morgantown looks to have a slight edge over Buckhannon-Upshur for the 3rd spot. I only show 5 points separating the two. Individually, I think we'll get 11 advancers. The current top 11 are Ryan Blohm, Drew Zundell, Jonah Nizami, Jacob West, Ben Ashmore, Gavin Whorton, Redick Moore, Tyler Umbright, Jack Waggy, Jordan Gillum, and Seth Franke. Runners within 60 points of the top 11 and not on an expected advancing team are Morgantown's Quinn Mudry (13th), Bridgeport's Troy Zorick (14th), and Morgantown's Zachary Workman (15th). Mudry would be ranked 3rd, 4th, and 6th in the other Regions. There are 50 ranked runners in Region I.
Region II: This Region should also advance three teams. Jefferson is easily the class of the field with 6 of the top 8 ranked runners. I only show 13 points separating the next three teams, so the battle for the other two spots, so this should be a good one. I have Washington in the 2nd spot with Musselman in the 3rd spot, and Hedgesville looking to sneak in. This Region will advance 10 individuals. The current top 10 are Justin Gottlieb, Conner Myers, Noah Schappell, Owen Thompson, Kyle Lewis, Tayden Cloonan, Reese Hickey, Connor Ireland, Andrew Butcher, and Justin Moss. There is just one runners within 60 points of the top 10 and not on an expected advancing team. That is Hampshire's Mason Cardamone (13th). There are 28 ranked runners in Region II.
Region III: This Region should advance three teams. Woodrow Wilson appears to have the top spot well in hand. There should be a decent fight for 2nd between St. Albans and George Washington. I have St. Albans taking the spot by 9 points. Those three appear to have a pretty good gap on the remaining teams. I think we'll get 12 individuals to advance from this Region, but everyone needs to get to the line to make sure that happens. Currently, the top 12 are Aiden Kneeland, Ryan Bazzle, Brandon Canaday, Skyler Hudnall, Noah Endres, Robert Shirey, Josiah Lavendar, Michael Haddadin, Jonah Morgan, Gage Fox, Ryan Van Bibber, and Zachary Neal. Runners within 60 points of the top 12 and not on an expected advancing team are Oak Hill's Austin Bias (#13) and Princeton's Brady McCabe (#14). There are 23 ranked runners in Region III.
Region IV: This Region should advance three teams. However, one of Spring Valley and Ripley must get five to the line in order for that to happen. Ripley, from what I can tell only has 5 on their roster, and Spring Valley has had several meets in which they did nto run a complete team. For purposes of this preview, I'm going to assume that at least one of the two get to the line. Hurricane is the class of the field with four of the top 5 ranked runners. Cabell Midland appears to have a solid grasp on the 2nd spot. I show a pretty close battle for the 3rd spot between Parkersburg South and Parkersburg. The rankings have Parkersburg South taking the spot by just 5 points. It looks like we'll probably only get 10 individuals to advance from this Region this year. The current top 10 are Ty Steorts, Aaron Kidd, Nick Kennedy, Tristan Blatt, Brady Dawkins, Jared Bailey, Andrew Bowen, Jack Mills, Braden Elswick, and Mason Lewis. Bowen has not competed since September 24th. If he does not run, that would move Walker Jones into the top 10. Ther are no runners within 60 points of the top 10 and not on a current expected advancing team. The closest is Parkersburg's Ricardo Salazar (#16). There are 46 ranked runners in Region IV.