the famous University of Kansas cross country course on Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Manhattan High’s plan of attack involved the steep hills throughout the length of the course.

“Our strategy this week was to try to surge at the top of the hills when everyone else is getting tired, and not try as much to pass people on the uphills, but go for the downhills,” sophomore Cara Melgares said.

The course is the most challenging course on the schedule in part to the dynamic changes in terrain and facing a total of 100-plus high schools across the Midwest. MHS runners took to the race and came to face challenges from the course before them. Senior Taylor Efurd had to contend with her knee injury from the beginning of the season, creating problems during and after the Varsity girls’ 5K race.

“I just felt like something was wrong because it never hurts like that during a race and I was like ‘that is not normal,’” Efurd said. “I knew I had to at least finish and try to catch people. It hurt really bad, but I had to get a couple [people].”

The Varsity girls’ 13th place with 322 points scored in the Platinum 5K varsity race was seen as a considerable success by Coach Susan Melgares. With the 24 teams that ran the Platinum 5K race, Coach Melgares characterized the event as a little bit of a historical moment.

“This is first time they’ve run a 5K for girls here, so that is a notable thing as we have been trying to make the change where girls are allowed to run a race as far as guys are,” Melgares said.

The Varsity boys followed later in the day with the Gold Varsity race and came across the same challenges with the course and the heat of the day.

“I was just so dead after the race,” senior Michael Melgares said. “I thought I was going to pass out. It was like last week. Jackson’s a big reason for that with how hard he pushes me, with how tough he races and I just try to hang on. But he’s so fast and so it’s just a lot of times we get that where afterwards, we feel like we’re about to die.”

Despite those challenges, the runners placed took an 11th place team finish with 317 points scored and saw considerable improvement in their times and placement at the meet.

“I was really proud of my team,” senior Isaiah Koppes said. “I felt like we all fought hard. But even personally, I was really proud of myself because this was the best effort I’d given all season.”

The team’s goal this week lies at the Junction City invitational this Saturday. The invitational is one of the team’s favorite courses of the season for the scenery and the lower difficulty of the course as a whole.

“I’m looking forward to next weekend because it’s just another race,” freshman Christina Martinez said. “People have told me that JC was one of the fastest races that they got. It’s where a lot of people got their PR’s [Personal Records]. So I’m really hoping to go there and get a PR for myself too.”