Beechwood placed three runners among the top eight seeds in both the boys and girls Class A fields for Saturday, Oct. 24, at Idlewild Park in Burlington.

The KHSAA regional cross country meets at Idlewild determine which teams and individuals advance to the state championship Oct. 31 at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, according to KHSAA. Three classes race Oct. 24: Class AAA Region 5 starts at 9 a.m. (girls) and 9:45 a.m. (boys), Class AA Region 4 at 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., and Class A Region 4 at 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m., LINK nky reported.

Seed times come from kymilesplit.com. Only boys projected team scores were provided.

Beechwood loads up in Class A

Charlie Skeen leads the Beechwood boys with the second-best seed time in Class A Region 4 at 16:52.34, trailing only Bishop Brossart's Henry Kramer (16:38.40). Teammates Gannon Parke (fourth, 17:02.61) and Braxton Lindloff (sixth, 17:31.50) round out a deep Tigers group. Projected team scores show Bishop Brossart at 28 points and Beechwood close behind at 31.

The Beechwood girls are similarly loaded. Audra Pohlgeers holds the fourth seed (20:36.10), Alyse Mains is fifth (21:10.20) and Ellie Groene seventh (21:22.51). Beechwood won the NKAC Division II girls team title at the conference meet at the same Idlewild course, according to the NKY Tribune.

Durrett tops Class AAA girls field

Notre Dame's Maggie Durrett enters the Class AAA Region 5 girls race as the top seed at 18:56.22. She is joined in the top eight by teammates Norah Barker (sixth, 19:18.30) and Abigail Ford (eighth, 19:28.22). The Pandas will face a strong Ryle squad that placed four runners in the top eight, led by Stella Carpenter (18:59.80) and Sadie Chalfant (18:59.83).

St. Henry's Vaniglia seeded third in Class AA

St. Henry junior Logan Vaniglia carries the third seed in the Class AA Region 4 boys race at 16:06.15. He won the NKAC Division II race at the conference meet. His time there was 16:17. Lexington Catholic dominates the Class AA boys seeds with five of the top eight times and a projected team score of 23.

How teams advance

The number of teams advancing to state depends on how many full teams enter each regional race. If eight to 10 full teams enter, five advance. The top five individuals from non-qualifying teams also earn individual state berths.

Covington Catholic senior Braden Franxman, the fourth seed in Class AAA boys at 15:59.70, told LINK nky on Oct. 21 that the familiar Idlewild course gives runners an edge: "I've run there a lot and running it recently just shrinks it down even more."

Runners who advance compete at Kentucky Horse Park on Oct. 31.