The Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational marked the beginning of Coppell’s cross country season. On Saturday, August 20 Coppell athletes competed on the 5K course at Lakeview Camp making the transition from summer training to race day competition.
The Varsity Girls’ team finished in 4th place overall. Senior Lulu Ehinger was the top runner for Coppell. She finished 6th overall with a time of 19 minutes, 12.6 seconds. Next in was Mallory Sherrer with a 13th place finish and a time of 19:37. Also scoring for Coppell were sophomores Rachel Arrington (32nd, 20:45), Ava Beaty (21:05), and Annie Reeder (22:32).
The Varsity Boys’ started the season off with a 1st place team finish. Seniors Andrew Mullen and Vedant Bhattacharyya led the Cowboys with back to back finishes. Mullen finished 1st overall with a time of 15 minutes, 26.6 seconds. Bhattacharyya was right behind him finishing 2nd overall with a time of 15 minutes 34.7 seconds. Henry Henze had a strong 5th place finish with a time of 16:00.7. Samarth Dubey (6th, 16:06) and Kavin Chengavarayan (7th, 16:19) rounded out the top five finishers for Coppell.
The JV Girls’ team placed 5th overall. Sophomore Lucy Martinson crossed the finish line first for Coppell in 18th place overall with a time of 22 minutes, 47 seconds. Ashlyn Wilbanks (36th, 23:52), Mehak Khandelwal (24:02), Bess Williams (24:11), and Brianna Henderson (24:51) were the top finishers for Coppell.
The JV Boys’ also secured a 1st place team finish. Senior Asheer Jiwani placed 1st overall with a time of 16 minutes, 55 seconds. The next top five finishers for Coppell were Cameron Churchill-Dowd (2nd, 17:19), Rohit Kalpathy (3rd, 17:28), Jase Wilson (4th, 17:33), and Ansh Singhal (7th, 17:50). Coppell Cowboys captured five more top 20 finishes; Krish Vinish (9th), Dillon Khera (10th), Grant O'Neal (12th), Rohan Shanbhag (13th), and Bunker Harris (14th).
Head Coach Wren was very pleased with how well both of the boys’ teams ran. “We knew going in that we were the favorites to win and we backed it up by posting good early season times. There are several guys competing for those top 7 varsity spots, and that will only make us better,” noted Coach Wren. On the girls’ side Coach Wren pointed out. “It was great to see Lulu Ehinger racing again after missing all of the 2021 XC season. I was also impressed with how our sophomores ran. We are going to need to rely on our youth this season to support our veterans”. Next Saturday, August 27 Coppell Cross Country will be competing in the Southlake Carroll Invitational at Bob Jones Park in Southlake.