Logan County High School is hosting the Class 3A Region 1 cross country meet on Saturday. The girls will take to the course at 11:15.
Eight schools have registered full teams for the region meet, meaning the top five teams will advance to the state meet on Nov. 1 in Lexington. The next five individual finishers not on those five 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
There is one certainty that will come from Saturday’s race – there will be a new winner for the first time since 2020.
Daviess County’s Lucy Spaw joined former Lady Panther great Whitney O’Bryan as four-time region champions this century. Spaw’s titles came in four straight years. O’Bryan won hers over a five-year period and likely would have made it five straight had an injury not kept her from the 2011 race.
However, a pair of Daviess County runners are competing to take over the top spot in the region as Makenzie Ross and Haley Wolfe have times near the 20-minute mark.
Marshall County’s Lauren Noles and Apollo’s Addy Alvey may be the best shot at keeping Daviess County from registering a perfect score.
Madisonville’s Katie Gillette will be among those competing for a qualifying spot at the state meet.
TEAM PREDICTIONS
Daviess County is expected to keep its stranglehold on the region, with the only drama being whether they field the first five runners for a perfect score.
The Lady Panthers are running for a 19th straight title in the region’s largest class. The last school other than Daviess County to win the region was Graves County in 2006. The Lady Eagles appear likely to finish second with Marshall County, McCracken County, Apollo, and Owensboro separated by eight points. One of those schools will miss out on qualifying for state by a slight margin.
