For the first time since 2004, Logan County High School is hosting the Class 2A Region 1 cross country meet on Saturday. The boys will take to the course at noon.
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
Union County’s Tristan Coy is the top seed and the favorite to become the third straight repeat champion (Trigg County’s Austin Cavanaugh 2020-23, and Webster County’s Ryan Roland 2017-19).
The senior runner won the Logan County preview with a time of 16:25 and has four top-five finishes this season.
Coy’s teammate Thomas Davis and Webster County’s Higdon are expected to fall in behind Coy, while Paducah Tilghman’s Charlie Wolfram and Kyron Wehrmeyer and Hopkinsville’s Tyson Cavinder and Savior Davis could pop in the top five along with Webster’s Maddox Hibbs.
TEAM PREDICTIONS
Union County last won a boys’ region title in 1998, and the Braves appear headed to breaking that streak on Saturday.
Their projected score of 53 would be 18 better than second-place Paducah Tilghman, who ended Webster County’s 11-year championship run last year.
Webster projects third. Trigg County has the strongest pack in the race, with only 12 spots separating its first five runners. They will need to have a strong race to solidify no worse than a fourth-place finish.
The fifth and final qualifying spot should come down to Calloway County and Hopkins County Central, although Logan County and Hopkinsville are within 20 points of fifth place.
