For the first time since 2004, Logan County High School is hosting the Class 1A Region 1 cross country meet on Saturday. The boys will take to the course at 9:00 in the first race of the day.
Eleven schools have registered full teams for the region meet, meaning the top six teams will advance to the state meet on Nov. 1 in Lexington. The next five individual finishers not on those six teams will also qualify.
Most teams in western Kentucky got a chance to run the Logan County course during the Cougar region preview race on Sept. 27.
For the schools that did not run in the region preview, we used the Milesplit database and took the average time of two comparable courses to use for a projected region time.
However, there are other factors at play when trying to chart projected region times. One is the entry of runners who primarily ran in middle school races in the season and didn’t compete at the varsity level.
Another is the entry of multi-sport athletes who can run in the region race now that their other season has concluded. The KHSAA no longer has a race minimum requirement.
THE FAVORITES
Easton Bourland of Dawson Springs comes into Saturday’s race as the favorite to repeat as the region champion. With the Binfield-Smith brothers now running at Graves County, Bourland is likely to become the third runner in the past decade to repeat as champion.
His teammate, Noah Riley, is expected to finish in the top five along with Fort Campbell’s Ryker Kramer, University Heights Academy’s Graham Conrad, and Murray’s Chris Bloomdahl.
Bourland ran a 16:45 at the Logan County preview last month and has six top-five finishes in six races this season, including wins at Union County, St. Mary, and McCracken County.
TEAM PREDICTIONS
Dawson Springs has won six straight region titles, but that streak appears in jeopardy.
Based on projections taken from this season’s times on comparable courses, Fort Campbell could place three runners in the top 10 and win by 20-25 points over second-place University Heights Academy. Fort Campbell hasn’t won a boys’ region title in over 25 years.
Dawson Springs is in line for no worse than a third-place finish. Two other teams likely to qualify for the state meet are Crittenden County and Heritage Christian Academy.
The final spot will come down to five other schools that ran predominantly middle school races during the season.
