The Mattoon and Charleston cross-country teams will compete at the Class 2A Olney Regional on Saturday. The girls will run at 10 a.m. with the boys scheduled to run at 11 a.m.

The teams competing will be Champaign Centennial, Champaign Central, Charleston, Danville, Effingham, Mahomet-Seymour, Mattoon, Mount Vernon, Olney, Rantoul, and Urbana. The top seven teams advance to the Decatur MacArthur Sectional.

On the boys side, Champaign Central is considered the favorite to win the Regional team title. The team is projected to have 42 points, which is 21 points more than the projected runner-up Mount Vernon. Urbana (88), Mahomet-Seymour (114), Effingham (117), Champaign Centennial (173), and Rantoul (181) are all projected to be the teams to make it out on the boy’s side.

The top 5 individuals from non-qualifying teams also advance to the sectional. Charleston and Mattoon are ranked 10th and 11 respectively on the team rankings. Charleston’s Blake Homman (17:32.9) owns the best chance of advancing. For the individual men’s title, Caleb Mathias (15:20.8) of Champaign Central, Aaron Hendron (15:30.2) of Champaign Centennial, and Trey Mygatt (15:36.4) own the best seeds.

For the girls, Effingham and Champaign Central are projected to be the favorites for the team title. Effingham owns a projected 62 points with Champaign Central right behind with 68 points. Among the other projected teams to qualify for the sectional: Mahomet-Seymour, Champaign Centennial, Urbana and Olney.

Charleston is ranked seventh on the projected team scores, while Mattoon is projected eighth.

Charleston’s Ila Richter (20:13.8) and Whitley Wood (20:25.0) own CHS’s top times, while Mattoon’s Oakley Layton has run 21:23.3.

Olney’s Tatum David is the favorite to win the girls individual title with her season-best of 16:51.3. The second-best time on paper comes from Ava Boyd of Mahomet-Seymour at 18:44.2.