The rain held off for the 2016 Gerald Richey Cross Country Invitational hosted by UT Arlington on Saturday allowing Coppell’s teams to bring home first and second place team finishes.  Runners from Coppell competed in both Varsity and Junior Varsity divisions on the 5k course through Lynn Creek Park on the banks of Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie. 

The Varsity Girls’ team finished 2^nd to Prosper High School with Sophomore Maddie Hulcy crossing the finish line first for Coppell  in 4^th place overall with a time of 19:43.8.  Freshmen Sydney Rowe and Izzy Iseley followed in 8^th and 13^th place with Jimena Benavides and Ardi Saunders close behind in 14^th and 16^th place.

The Varsity Boys also brought home a second place trophy coming in just behind Lovejoy High School.  It was another top finish for Senior Nathan Sims (16:26.20) who came in 5^th overall with Grant Reese and Alan Huo not far behind in 11^th and 12^th place.  Other top Varsity finishers for Coppell were Marcos Bohn in 17^th place and Jacob Turman in 23^rd. 

The highlight of the day came with two first place team finishes from Coppell’s JV Girls and Boys teams.  Not only were they first in overall team standings, but Coppell also had two first place individual finishes and took 7 of the top ten spots in both the girls and boys races.   Senior Cali Westervelt had the winning time for the girls (21:13.6) followed by Hannah Pridgen in 2^nd, Joni Goh (4^th), Catie Kimball ( 5^th) Zayna Siddiqui (6^th) and Katelin Reznicek and Dani Flores in 7^th and 9^th place. 

As rain threatened, the JV boys took to the course next, and after a restart due to a fall, they were off.  Andres Abrego Guerra crossed the finish line in first (17:46.7) with Troy Briscoe next in 3^rd place.    They were followed by Justin Chow, Tyler Bricoe, AJ Rothwell, Fernando Vazquez and Daniel Ingrisan in 5^th-9^th place.  Way to go JV runners!!

Next on the schedule for Coppell High School is the Flower Mound Invitational at Gerault Park , 1200 Gerault Rd. in Flower Mound, on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 am.