As Manhattan High took to the roughly-mowed course of Lake Shawnee, their focus wasn’t to stress over the start of the postseason last Saturday. They wanted to race each other after a week off to prepare.

“It’s the same as any other meet,” coach Susan Melgares said. “They shoot the gun and we get to the finish line as fast as possible.”

Their first place finishes on both Varsity teams showed their resolve to comeback from their week off and take to the postseason looking at making necessary improvements.

“We were all loose and laid back. Kind of relaxed,” senior Michael Melgares said. “We weren’t stressing ourselves out about it. Especially after we saw how the girls went out and dominated their race.”

The girls’ team kicked off the Varsity races by snatching first place at 23 points scored. Their top five runners all placed in the top 10 overall, with a pack time of 20 seconds between sophomore Cara Melgares and senior Taylor Efurd, who placed first and ninth individually. Following the girls’ victory was the boys’ team taking another first place victory with 34 points scored with the top five runners finishing in the top 20 with an 80 second packtime to kick off their postseason races.

The team’s overall race was described, by Michael, as similar to the Junction City meet in terms of pack time. The unique layout of Lake Shawnee compared to previous meets gave MHS little trouble as their results showed.

“There’s still room for improvement, but we’ve definitely taken a step in the right direction,” Michael said. “How they finished at the end, it feels really good to see how physically and emotionally invested they are in the team.”

Saturday’s Regional competition marks the last home meet of the cross country season. Until then their practices this coming week will give way to running at the State competition on October 31 in Lawrence.