Every year towards the end of the season, the Walter Johnson cross country team heads up to Manhattan, New York for one of America’s elite races, the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational.

This year, the girls’ team lead by senior and Wake Forest commit Jenna Goldberg, had a great showing. Goldberg finished first overall in the women’s 2.5 mile race, followed by junior Ella Gaul in third and sophomore Ellie Rodgers in 11th. As a whole, the girls’ team came in second in their race.

“It warmed up to the perfect temperature by our race and the course was in great shape,” Goldberg said. “The hills were challenging but fun! Our team did really well, placing second, and I’m really proud of our hard work.”

Goldberg took advantage of these course conditions with her first place finish. However, she is clearly more proud of the team’s overall performance, a great characteristic for a leader.

For the boys’ team, every member earned a medal for finishing in the top 75. Senior Jake Marks lead the team, coming in 14th in his race, followed closely by sophomore Andrew Schell and senior Seth Bangser, who finished 18th and 19th, respectively. The boys are already looking forward to the next meet and not worried about the past.“It was a great race to help prepare us for the county championship as well as regionals and then states,” senior Nathaniel Gray said.

Gray finished the county meet in 64th overall and 6th on the team. The team overall finished in third place, lead by Marks’ 10th place finish.

Not all of the trip was solely about running, though. While they were not racing, everyone enjoyed themselves in Manhattan and everything it has to offer, while making some friends along the way.

“It was fun to bond with the team in a new environment,” junior Emelia Isola said.

Many runners went shopping or explored the sights of the city while waiting for the race. Some visited historic Times Square, where there are great shopping places at very high end stores. For some, the extracurriculars in the runners’ downtime was just as important as the race, making the trip a success all around.