A day at Milford Lake was met with resounding success from Manhattan High runners when the Varsity boys took first and the Varsity Girls took second at the Junction City Invitational last Saturday.

As the team came off its two largest meets of the season, the runners partook in one of their favorite courses of the season. The course has remained the location of many of the runners’ personal records throughout each season.

“The weather was good and then with the size of the meet, having a smaller meet after getting Joplin and Rimrock – which are both huge meets — helps take the pressure off and let us ease off the pedal to focus going into the postseason,” junior Sam Morgan said.

The first place score of 40 came after the top five MHS runners all finished in the top 20 in the meet. Senior Michael Melgares (16:00.18) and sophomore Jackson Schroeder (16:01.32) took first and second place with freshman Cooper Schroeder (17:10.84) taking 10th, senior Isaiah Koppes (17:13.69) taking 11th and junior Peter Gruenbacher taking 16th.

“It felt pretty good because we felt like we all raced pretty hard and we all put out a pretty good effort. So it was a solid win,” Koppes said.

The Varsity Girls’ second place came with a score of 87 points, finishing only behind Maize w000ho had 45 points. Freshman Christina Martinez (15:37.77) and senior Megan Ochoa (15:56.78) led Manhattan’s pack this week finishing in third and fifth. Senior Taylor Efurd (16:14.39) took 14th place with freshmen Joy Gruenbacher (17:07.3 9) and Michelle Kurilla (17:09.10) finishing off Manhattan’s top five.

“There were some really nice hills and downhills there that were not too steep, not too hard, but just enough to catch some people in,” Martinez said.

As the postseason closes in, the runners now face the Haskell Invitational in Lawrence on Saturday. Since the week after is the League meet hosted at Lake Shawnee, the top runners will not attend in order to prepare for the postseason extensively. Following League on Oct. 18, the team will return for Regionals at Warner Park on Oct. 25 for the last opportunity to run at home.

“I think it’s a really good place to hold regionals because the fact that we have so many opportunities to train on it and it’s one of the toughest courses in the state really plays to our advantage,” Koppes said. “[And] since it’s my senior year, I’m really glad I get one more chance to run at home.”