While no horse has won the horse racing Triple Crown in decades, the cross-country team won its own Triple Crown last week.

In order to win, the Vikes had to finish first of all the teams who competed at the three designated events. The boys finished sixth overall at Great Meadow, sixteenth at Oatlands and fifth at Octoberfest. The girls also did well, finishing fourth at Great Meadow, ninth at Oatlands, and fourth at Octoberfest

Octoberfest, the final of the three, was last Saturday, Oct. 5.

Individually, Whitman had a strong showing as well. Junior Evan Woods finished first for Whitman and seventh overall and fellow junior Alex Roederer finished eleventh overall.

It was the first time Whitman had participated in all three events and winning was a goal from the beginning of the season.

“It was a goal at the beginning of the season to enter and hopefully win the Triple Crown,” junior Alex Roederer said.

In order to reach that goal, coach Stephen Hays changed the focus of practice.

“For the top seven runners, practice had been a little different,” Roederer said. “We have been doing more workouts that focus on pacing rather than just improving our times.”

Hays has seen the benefits of the practice in his team.

“We’re definitely a young team still getting better,” Hays said. “But we still have a lot of work to be great.”

None of the top six fastest boys and four fastest girls at Octoberfest were seniors which demonstrates just how young this team is.

Even with a young team focused on improving, Hays still has high expectations for the rest of the season.

“We always set out to win the state championships,” Hays said.

Cross-country will next run at the Manhattan Invitational this Saturday and the county championships the week after.