The Marcus I Invitational in North Lakes Park continues to be a destination meet.   This early season Invitational is known as the meet where teams will challenge each other for the first time each cross country season.  The Coppell High School Cross Country team held its own on this highly competitive course.

The top 14 girls competed in two divisions, 7 in Elite Varsity and 7 in Open Varsity.  Once again, Junior Maddie Hulcy led the girls with a 14^th place finish in a time of 18:29.72 in the Elite Varsity division of 200+ runners.  Team mates Chloe Hassman (19:08.85) in 31^st, Natalie Fleming (19:14.79) in 36^th, Rowan Hassman in 56^th, and Izzy Iseley in 61^st rounded out Coppell’s top five finishers.  The Elite Varsity team clinched a 4^th place team finish.   In the Girls Open Varsity division, Sophomore Sydney Rowe crossed the finish first for Coppell with an overall finish of 9^th place in a time of 20:15.57. Other strong finishers for Coppell were Gracie McKethan (20:50.06) in 29^th, Ardi Saunders (21:08.3) in 39^th, Katelin Reznicek in 42^nd, and Sarah Mobley in 54^th.  The Open Varsity Girls team bought back 5^th place out of 28 teams.  

On the boys’ side, both the Elite Varsity team and the Open Varsity team captured 3rd place trophies.  Senior Matteo Aguis-Darrigo was the first Coppell runner to cross the finish for the Elite Varsity with a time of 16:16.35 coming in 27^th place overall in this division of 290+ runners.  Marcos Bohn (16:17.43) in 31^st place, Nathaniel Leach (16:30.35) in 49^th, Kaz Carlson in 50^th, and Grant Reece in 64^th were the top five Elite Varsity runners for Coppell.  Junior Grant Evans was the top Coppell finisher in the Open Varsity division with a 15^th place finish and a time of 17:09.94.  He was followed by teammates Jackson Walker (17:27.89) in 27^th, Riley Warner (17:38.11) in 37^th, Evan Caswell in 40^th, and Quinn Proctor in 54^th.  In a field of 40 cross country teams, Coppell boys found their stride at the Marcus I Invitational.

The JV Girls also competed in two divisions.  The JV Elite Girls team secured 6^th place out of 28 teams.  Freshman Bernice David was the top JV Elite Coppell finisher in 16^th place with a time of 21:54.62.  The other top five Coppell JV elite finishers were Zayna Siddiqui (22:12.24) in 19^th, Catherine Kimball (22:23.44) in 25^th, June Poopnead in 73^rd, and Reezon Eke in 82^nd.  The JV Open Girls team also finished in 6^th place.  Junior Dani Alfaro-Flores finished in 1^st place overall in the JV Open division with a time of 21:57.61.  Emily Settle (25:35) in 36^th, Anmol Uppal (26:32) in 49^th, Natalie Adams in 50^th, and Annelise Holguin in 55^th place were all top five JV open finishers for Coppell in a division with 250+ runners.

JV Boys were also divided into two divisions.  The JV Elite Boys team took 4^th place in this division of 35 teams.  Junior Garrett Freddo led Coppell with a time of 17:49.48 finishing in 12^th place among 400+ runners.  Top five finishing teammates were Chris Figueroa (18:03.99) in 19^th, Fernando Cornejo (18:07.19) in 22^nd, Tyler Sewell in 35^th, and William Heatherington in 40^th.  The JV Open Boys team placed 5^th in this division of 30 teams.  Freshman Jonathan Le was the first Coppell JV Open finisher in 5^th place overall and a time of 19:11.55.  Rith Bhattacharyya (20:12.4) in 29^th, Gregory Sabuncuyan (20:23.42) in 40^th, Cole Carter in 45^th, and Jackson Smith 49^th place were all top five JV open finishers for Coppell in this division of 350+ runners.

Coppell will compete next Saturday, September 9 at the South Lake Invitational at Bob Jones Park in South Lake at 7:00 am.  Come out for what is shaping up to be an exciting Coppell Cross Country season.