Harriers across the state of West Virginia have trained and prepared all season for Thursday afternoon.
That will the day where dreams of a trip to the state cross country meet will be realized or dashed during the all important regional meets.
Area runners will look to punch their tickets at the Region 3 meets. The Class AAA runners in Region 3 will compete this year at Greenbrier East High School while the Class AA and A will run at Westside High School.
Three teams and 10 individuals will qualify on both the boys and girls side in Class AAA and AA, while two teams and 10 individuals will qualify in Class A.
Woodrow Wilson has owned the regional meet amongst the big schools over the past few seasons and the Flying Eagles are again the team to beat in both the boys and girls race.
The Woodrow boys are ranked as the seventh best team in the state according to the the RunWV Power Rankings, while the girls are ranked ninth overall. The Flying Eagles are the only Region 3 team ranked in the top-10.
Sophomore Aiden Kneeland has led Woodrow Wilson all season with dominant runs week after week. Ranked No. 3 in the state, Kneeland blitzed the field on the same course earlier in the season at the Spartan Invitational.
Brandon Canaday is ranked 19th in the state and he has given the Flying Eagles a solid 1-2 punch this year. They are joined by Robert Shirey, Michael Haddadin and Jonah Morgan.
The Woodrow Wilson girls are all underclassmen and have been solid across the board as well.
Consistent efforts from Lauren Curtis, Kyndall Ince and Cecilia Lindley have keyed the Flying Eagles who have also had strong runs from Hannah Keiling and Madison Farrish.
Abigail Londeree from Greenbrier East won the regional meet last year and she is back to make her pitch for a return to the state meet along with teammate Abby Dixon and Asia Collins from Princeton who both made the 2021 state meet as individuals.
The Class AA meet should prove to be a dogfight after a tightly contested battle at the Coalfield Conference meet last week.
PikeView has steadily improved all season and the Panthers were the top Class AA finisher at the Coalfield meet followed by Nicholas County and Shady Spring who is the defending regional champion.
Senior Braden Ward is the 20th ranked runner in the state and has led the charge for PikeView. Sophomore Matt Murphy is ranked 28th to give the Panthers two of the top runners in Regions 3. They have been joined by Kaleb Blankenship, Jonah Nolan, Nate Cook and Elijah Keaton.
The Grizzlies have made some noise led by a pair of sophomores in Luke Barr and Johnny Walkup who are ranked 29th and 31st, respectively statewide. Add in senior Wesley Holcomb who also finished top-10 at the Coalfield run and Nicholas County has a strong chance to make a return to the state meet again this year.
Shady Spring is the defending regional champion and has the top ranked AA runner out of Region 3 for Thursday’s race in senior Jaedan Holstein.
Holstein has battled some injuries this year, but was the top AA runner at the Coalfield meet running arguably his best race of the season.
The X-factor the the Tigers will be standout Jacob Dowdy. Dowdy has been slowed all season by an injury, missing several meets as a result. Dowdy finished runner-up at the state meet last year by just over a second. If the talented junior can run and be effective, the Tigers could make a strong run as repeat champions.
Wyoming East sophomore Tommy Wikel was the fifth best runner at the Coalfield meet and he will be a strong contender to qualify as an individual.
The Shady Spring girls won the Coalfield meet handily amongst the Class AA schools led by sisters Charlotte McGinnis and Gwynn McGinnis. They have been backed by strong performances from Journey Wisthoff, Brylie Wiseman and Abby Honaker throughout the season.
Nicholas County is the defending regional champion and has two of the strongest runners in the field in Natalie Barr and Haley Johnson who finished first and second in last year’s regional run.
PikeView and Wyoming East will also make a bid for one of the three team spots for the girls.
The Panthers have all underclassmen and all five have made marked improvement throughout the season. Carli Spade and Laicey Necessary have been the anchors for the up and coming girls from Gardner.
Senior Colleen Lookabill from Wyoming East has been a state meet stalwart over her career. If Lookabill, Lexie Wikel and Taylor McKinney can run a strong race, the Warriors could grab that elusive team spot in the state meet.
In the small school race, Charleston Catholic will be the team to beat on both sides. The Irish girls are ranked No. 3 and the boys are ranked No. 6.
Richwood will give Charleston Catholic a run for the title in the girls event coming in ranked No. 9, as will Webster County who was a close third at regionals last year.
The Irish have three runners ranked in the top-15 for the girls led by freshman Bella Boggs at No. 4. She is flanked by sophomores Hannah Fisher (11) and Aurelia Kirby (15).
Richwood is led by Baylee Jarrett who is ranked 20th and Carlee Dillard (33).
Sarah Turner from Summers County and Katie Collins from James Monroe will be strong contenders for individual spots Thursday. Turner qualified last year for the state meet as a junior.
The Class AA girls race will start at 1 p.m. and the boys race will start at 1:45 p.m. Class A girls are set to start at 3 p.m. with the boys running at 3:45 p.m.
Class AAA is slated to start at 2 p.m. for the girls race and 2:45 p.m. for the boys event.