The Manville Mustangs boys and girls cross country team completed their annual expedition to Jackson Township, NJ, to compete in the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational race at the Six Flags amusement park. This race is very respected, having only 150 boys teams and 150 girls teams competing from states such as New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Natalia Musielak captains the girl’s side of the team along with Ana Yakobchuk. Before the race, Natalia communicated some great words about this course, “The course at six flags is relatively flat and it features a scenic route through the woods. This race includes a lot of fast teams, which will push our runners towards a PR (personal record).”

The fastest that Musielak has run a 5K was last season at 22:53 and it happened to be at this same race at Six Flags.  As the Mustangs arrived at Six Flags, they were all preparing to run some extraordinary times. In the girls’ freshman 2-mile race, Nicole Ambrose ran her race in 16 minutes and 20 seconds, finishing 33rd. Allison Strauss ran 17:24 resulting in a 52nd-place finish! Finishing the race in 62nd and 63rd place were Ashley Manzanares, running 20:12, and Maria Kuria, running 20:04. Freshman Damian Schumacher ran his 2 miles in 14 minutes and 9 seconds.

Moving into the junior varsity 5K races, Solomiya Mykhaylyshyn (11) ran 26:50 finishing 42nd. Janely Munguia (10) ran 27:13 finishing 47th with Ariande Bolanes (11) right behind her running 27:44 and finishing 49th! Katerina Kontos (10) ran her 5K in 29 minutes and 12 seconds granting her a 62nd place finish.

On the boys’ side of the junior varsity races, Evan Bias (9) ran a rapid 20:25 5K allowing for a 45th place finish. Aaron Jimenez Mena (11) ran a speedy 21:27 with Justin Petti (11) finishing only 30 seconds behind him at 21:57. Jamie Gavilanes (10) ran 23:26 and Anthony Valle (10) ran 26:28.

The five girls who competed in the varsity 5K did not disappoint! Haisha Lasluiza (10) ran her first 5K in her career and completed it in 24:49 finishing 57th! Carly Galvin (11) ran 24:35 improving her fastest time by almost two minutes! Captain Natalia Musielak (12) ran a swift 22:46, also improving her time and finishing 35th. The Mustang’s second captain Ana Yakobchuk (11) ran 22:30 earning herself a 30th place finish and a medal! Michelle Miga (11) did not look back as she crushed this race. She ran a 20:09 5K, not only improving her own time but breaking the school record for the second time!

Only two Mustangs competed in the boys’ varsity 5K and they were our captains. Ronaldo Gamarra (12) ran 19:15 finishing 50th in the race. Yavier Alvarez (12) ran lightning fast 18:25 improving his time by over one minute and finishing 33rd!

The Manville Mustangs will take a trip to Holmdel on October 1st to participate in the Shore Coaches Invitational race. Good luck Mustangs!