By the middle of the cross country season, both the girls and boys cross country teams have walked away with lessons learned and big wins at the Rim Rock Classic and Baldwin Invitational.

“We did a lot better at the Baldwin meet overall,” senior Max Bowyer said. “Personal best-wise, we had a few at Baldwin and at Rim Rock we were struggling a little bit … The hills are a lot bigger [at Rim Rock] than the hills at Baldwin, so it’s tough and some of the guys on our team … had not ran at Rim Rock yet until last weekend.”

On Saturday, Sept. 25, Manhattan High competed against teams from “at least five states,” according to sophomore Haley Henningson. The boys competed against 26 teams and 178 runners, while the girls competed against 21 teams and 151 runners. In total, four runners placed in the upper 25% of their races, including senior Ben Mosier (16th), junior Amelia Knopp (27th) and freshmen Rebekah Pickering (18th) and Landon Knopp (42nd). The girls team picked up a fourth place finish while the boys collected 13th.

“I think [fourth] was like a really good spot for us to be in,” Henningson said. “It was the peak of our season, so it was good to get fourth [at Rim Rock].”

On Saturday, Oct. 2, both teams cleared their competition at Baldwin. As a team, the boys were just six points from a first place finish, landing second. The boys had three individuals placed in the top 10: Mosier in fourth, Bowyer in sixth and Landon in 10th. For Bowyer, his time dropped by 45 seconds compared to his race at Rim Rock.

“It was well earned. It’s a season best so far, not my fastest time, probably my third fastest time, so I’m definitely impressed with it,” Bowyer said, “but I want to do more.”

On the girls side, the team took first place with five runners in the top 10: Pickering in first, Henningson in third, Ameila in seventh, freshman Malea Jobity in ninth and senior Rachel Corn in 10th. Like Bowyer, Henningson also took off 45 seconds from the previous week’s race.

“We just came to [Baldwin] with better mindsets, well at least I did,” Henningson said. “I just ran as hard as I could and I did well and it was a pretty fast course.”

Additionally, three runners from MHS out of eight total achieved the MileSplit U.S. Second Team standard: Pickering, Henningson and Mosier.

On Wednesday night, the team will be participating in the annual Moonlight Mile at Northeast Community Park. There, each runner will compete for the best mile time. 

On Saturday, MHS will travel to Lawrence to compete in the Haskell Invitational.