Manhattan High track competed at Lawrence Free State last Thursday for the boys and Monday for the girls, after the girls meet was rescheduled from Friday due to weather. 

Five MHS athletes took home first at Free State: senior Darius O’Connell in shot put, senior Jaden Magana in discus, Jason Moran in javelin and senior Charles Jones in triple jump. The 4×800 team, including senior Jose Avila Vargas, junior Baptiste Lacriox, junior Ben Moiser and freshman Ethan Bryant, also took first. Other medalists include Jones taking third in the long jump and Avila Vargas also taking third in the 400 meter dash.

Sophomore Gili Johnson placed the first 400 meter dash and junior Kyra Arasmith took third in the 300 meter hurdles on the girls side. The girls Free State meet had fewer competitors after it was rescheduled to Monday due to weather. 

Manhattan High track had their fourth meet of the season at home April 22, and for the third time both the boys and the girls took home first place. Olathe South, Lansing, Bishop Miege, Junction City, Newton, Seaman, and Salina Central made the trip to Manhattan. The boys took first totaling 154 points and the girls totaled 139 points. The boys once again won by a long shot beating the second placed Olathe South by 55 points, while the girls also won by 56 total points over Lansing.
This was Manhattan High’s first and only home Varsity meet, and they were allowed a sizable home crowd unlike many sports over this year.

“Coach Rod [Robison] says there’s two ways to run the 4×4. Learn to run it fast or make it easy and we chose the route to make it fast,” junior Zach Hirschey said. “It felt pretty cool to have our home crowd on the sidelines cheering us on while we ran. With this win at home, our team’s goal is now nothing less but to win state.” 

The team is going strong into their next relay meet at Seaman on April 30.

“We’re not even through half the season yet and have 6 weeks left until state,” senior Josie Koppes said. “I feel like our 4×800 team will compete and give it our best to come out on top.”