Manhattan ? The biggest obstacle to either Lawrence High or Free State High not winning today’s Class 6A cross country regional in Manhattan might be the weather.

But don’t expect the cool conditions and wet course to affect the Firebirds and Lions too much.

With schools like Emporia, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Overland Park Aquinas and Shawnee Mission East at the Emporia regional, the biggest competition the Lawrence schools have is each other.

“Most powers are going to be down in Emporia,” LHS coach Dick Reamon said. “I don’t see any reason that the two of us can’t be 1-2 in both races.”

The LHS boys, ranked No. 1 in 6A all season, are coming off a Sunflower League title, while FSHS, ranked fourth, was fourth at league last week. Leavenworth, sixth at the league meet, and Junction City, which won the I-70 league title, stand as the two other teams to watch.

The Firebirds’ girls were second at league, and the Lions were third. They’ll be pushed by Manhattan, the I-70 champs, and Washburn Rural.

FSHS coach Steve Heffernan thinks his squads could have some of their best races this year during today’s meet.

“We’re fairly comfortable we can make it through regionals,” he said. “It takes a lot of pressure off, knowing that if you run a good race you’ll probably make it. So you run a little more relaxed.”

Relaxed, that is, if they manage to stay warm.

Temperatures in the mid-50s won’t make things frigid, but sometimes it’s tough to motivate runners when it’s not warm.

“The bigger challenge is to get the kids past that it’s cold,” Heffernan said. “Sometimes when it’s cold, they get down a little bit.”

It could be worse. The girls race begins at 2 p.m., and the boys follow at 2:30 p.m.

The late start is because of ACT and SAT tests offered that morning, so a morning  colder  start was avoided.

That’s good news to those involved.

“At this point in the season, I think it’s a pretty good idea because the mornings can be pretty crisp,” Reamon said.