After winning both the girls and boys District 9- 6 A titles, the Coppell Cross Country team competed in the 6A- Region 2 Championships on Saturday, October 29 at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie. On the girl’s side, 23 teams competed for the coveted 4 places that advance to the state finals. After some tense moments waiting for the final results to come in, Coppell had reason to celebrate , finishing in 4th place overall to teams from the Woodlands, Woodlands College Park and Houston Stratford, all earning a state final bid. Only 4 points separated the 4th and 5 place teams, which proves how competitive these runners are. Sophomore Maddie Hulcy was the top finisher for the Cowgirls coming in 26th place overall in a time of 19:53.74. Freshmen Izzy Iseley and Sydney Rowe finished next coming in 31st and 40th, followed by Ardi Saunders in 59th, Shelby Spoor in 70th, Jimena Benevides in 75th and Miranda Dickson in 79th out of 172 runners.
The girl’s victory was bitter sweet as they watched the boys team wait anxiously for the results of their race. After an exceptionally competitive 5k run, the Coppell boys team finished in 6th place overall behind teams from the Woodlands, Woodlands College Park, Conroe Oakridge, Pflugerville Hendrickson and Round Rock Stony Point, falling just short of a trip to the state meet. Leading their team to the 6th place finish were Seniors Alan Huo and Nathan Sims coming in 18th and 25th place overall. They were supported by teammates Grant Reese, in 47th place, Jacob Turman in 54th, Troy Briscoe in 61st, Kaz Carlsen-Phelan in 70th and Jackson Walker in 82nd. Although the boy’s team did not advance, they will be represented by Alan Huo who qualified as an individual runner by finishing among the top 10 runners not already on a qualifying team. Nathan Sims, who has been a leader on boy’s team all season, narrowly missed qualifying by one place.
Huo and the Girl’s team have two weeks to prepare for the State meet which will be run at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock on Saturday, November 12.