On Saturday, August 17, the Coppell High School Cross Country boys and girls teams competed at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational. This event gave Coppell athletes the chance to race against 23 teams from across the DFW area.
Individual and Team Highlights:
Varsity Girls:
- Placed 4th overall.
- Maya Easterwood placed 1st overall, finishing in 17:10. Mallory Sherrer finished 18th with a time of 19:09. Other scorers included Rachel Arrington (20:57) and Lauren Bennett (21:03).
- Coach Wren expressed his satisfaction: “I was pleased with our fourth-place finish. I believe it's the highest we’ve finished in the last four years. The girls really attacked the course, and their times reflect that. Maya Easterwood had an unbelievable performance today, running a 17:10. To my knowledge, I don’t think any Coppell girl has ever run a 5K that fast. That time is nearly a minute faster than what she ran at the state meet last year. I’m excited to watch us progress this year. No one outworks these girls. They’re fun to watch train, and I’m confident we’ll continue to improve.”
Varsity Boys:
- Placed 1st overall out of 30 teams.
- Top finishers included Pranav Vegiraju (1st, 14:59), Rohit Kalpathy (12th, 15:45), Grant O’Neal (16th, 15:54), Srivanth Rudrangi (19th, 16:03), and Jayden Benjamin (16:12).
- Coach Wren reflected: “Pranav Vegiraju running a sub-15 was impressive, though not surprising due to his work ethic. He works so hard in practice, so I was excited to see him run a 14:59. Having three runners under 16 and the other two of the top five running low 16s was fun to watch. I think some coaches around the state will take notice of what we accomplished today. Another notable performance was Diego Morales running a 16:32 as our #6 runner. This was a great first step toward our goal of becoming district champions. We have a long way to go, but this was a nice start.”
JV Girls:
- Placed 2nd overall.
- Top finishers included Avery Fishman (9th, 22:24), Ava Garcia (13th, 22:41), Shreya Shah (16th, 22:45), and Akshaya Ashokanand (17th, 22:45).
- Coach Wren was impressed: “We finished 2nd overall, and like the JV boys, we have many young runners who rose to the occasion today. Many of these girls ran a 5K for the first time, but you wouldn’t know it from the way they attacked the course. They were led by Avery Fishman and Ava Garcia, who both ran excellent races.”
JV Boys:
- Placed 1st overall.
- Top finishers included Samuel Meier (2nd, 17:36), Itsuki Pena (3rd, 17:41), Sidharth Kerthipati (6th, 17:57), Myles Metrano (8th, 17:58), and Marco Noyola (11th, 18:14).
- Coach Wren was thrilled: “Winning the meet with 30 points is pretty impressive. Our top four runners were freshmen, led by Samuel Meier and Itsuki Pena. I’m excited to see these younger runners continue to develop. They’ve bought into what we’re doing, so I’m not surprised they’ve had early success.”
Coach Wren concluded: “Overall, I’m pleased with all four teams. It was great to see us competing on the course against other schools. This year’s competition was tougher than the last couple of years, so it was a fantastic way to start our season. I’m looking forward to the progress we’ll make moving forward. Next week, we’ll compete at the Greenhill 6-mile Relay, which is a little different but a lot of fun. I can’t wait to watch our kids compete there.”
Contact Information:
For more details or to support the team, please contact Patricia Chi at chi.patricia@gmail.com or (469) 831-3709.