CHS Cross Country Team 2015 Regional Qualifiers
Monday, October 26th was the date set for the2015 UIL Region 1 XC Championship meet which is held in Lubbock, Texas. Eight districts sent their top 3 varsity district championship teams to run at the regional meet. The Lubbock course is challenging with multiple hills and it proves to be a highly competitive race year after year. The runners did enjoy near perfect weather conditions with cool temperatures and very little wind.
The Coppell High School Varsity Cross Country team left Sunday morning to make their way to Lubbock to compete in the 6A division. Coach Benton took 20 runners, his top 7 varsity boys and girls plus 3 alternates for each team. The runners for the boys team were- Killian Carlsen-Phelan (Sr.), Troy Briscoe (Jr.), Alan Huo (Jr.), Nathan Sims (Jr.), Andres Abrego (Soph.), Grant Reece (Soph.), and Nathan Wolford (Soph.) with the alternates including Tyler Briscoe (Jr.), Franklin Truax (Jr.) and Justin Chow (Fr.). The ladies team included Taylor Bell (Sr.), Lillie Saunders (Sr.), Laura Taylor (Sr.), Ashley Scrivner (Jr.), Cali Westervelt (Jr.), Maddie Hulcy (Fr.), Shiksha Lal (Fr.), with alternates Mattie McKethan, Hannah Pridgen and Ardi Saunders who are all Sophomores.
The girls team placed 7th out of 24 teams and improved upon their team placement by two spots over last year’s regional results. Freshman Maddie Hulcy was the first Coppell finisher with a personal record of 19:03 followed closely by senior Laura Taylor with a time of 19:10. Both Maddie (40th) and Laura (47th) were top 50 finishers out of a field of 176 runners. Taylor Bell, Shiksha Lal and Lillie Saunders rounded out the top 5 finishers for Coppell placing in the Top 75.
The boys team was paced by Junior Nathan Sims who finished 21st out of 182 runners. Sims ran a personal record with a time of 15:31. Alan Huo, Grant Reece, Killian Carlsen-Phelan, and Nathan Wolford rounded out the top 5 finishers for Coppell.
The cross country team will continue to train as many of these athletes will go on to compete in Track and Field in the spring. Training for cross country is a year round endeavor so be sure to encourage these runners if you see them in the park or at the track.