Coppell Cross Country measured up to a tough early season test at the Southlake Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, August 27. The 5K course at Bob Jones Park in Southlake provided Coppell with a great opportunity to match up with several District 6 and Region 1 rivals. The Coppell Cowboys did not disappoint, there were outstanding individual as well as team finishes.
The Varsity Boys team clinched 2nd place overall in the Elite Varsity Boys division. Coppell got top twenty performances from Seniors Andrew Mullen and Vedant Bhattacharayya. Mullen led the Cowboys with a 10th place finish at 15:17.91. Bhattacharayya placed 15th overall with a time of 15:26.48. Henry Henze (31st, 15:52), Samarth Dubey (40th, 16:01), and Samuel Martinson (54th, 16:13) rounded out the point scorers for Coppell. The Cowboys also placed 2nd overall in the Open Varsity Boys’ race. Seniors Asheer Jiwani and Cameron Churchill-Dowd led the Cowboys with top ten finishes. Jiwani finished 2nd overall with a time of 16:21. He was followed by Churchill-Dowd, in 7thplace at 16:54. Next in for Coppell were Rohit Kalpathy (24th, 17:14), Cole Stehly (28th, 17:22), and Jase Wilson (35th, 17:39).
The Girls’ Varsity team finished 17th overall in the Elite Varsity Girls division. Coppell got a fast 21st place finish from Sophomore Mallory Sherrer, she ran across the line at 18:51. Senior Lulu Ehinger was right behind her with a strong 25th place finish at 18:56. Ava Beaty (20:37), Rachel Arrington, and Annie Reeder rounded out the point scorers for Coppell. Coppell girls placed 23rd overall in the Open Varsity Girls division. Senior Megan Peltier led Coppell finishing in 44th place overall with a time of 21:28. Next in for Coppell were Tavishka Arora (23:25), Alexa Turati (23:31), Lucy Martinson, and Ashlyn Wilbanks.
The JV Girls placed 16th overall in the JV Girls division. Freshman Amala Rao led the girls, she placed 15th overall with a time of 22:26. Mahek Khandelwal (23:23), Brianna Henderson (25:27), Saakshi Barve, and Alisma Adhikari were the top finishers for Coppell.
The JV Boys team claimed 3rd place overall in the JV division. Senior Rohan Shanbhag led the team with a strong 3rd place finish at 17:56. Bunker Harris (5th, 18:00), Grant O’Neal (11th, 18:14), Hugh Harris, and Srivant Rudrangi rounded out the point scorers.
Head Coach Landon Wren emphasized that he couldn’t be more proud of how all the athletes competed. “The majority of the girls ran faster times this week. Mallory Sherrer and Lulu Ehinger both went sub 19 minutes for the first time. Ava Beaty and Annie Reeder improved by over 25 seconds. The girls are putting in the work and it’s cool to see the positive results”, commented Coach Wren. “The boys’ team treated this meet as a statement meet. We had three runners that were sub 16 minutes and two more that weren’t too far off. Both varsity boys’ teams finished 2nd and our JV boys’ team finished 3rd against some of the best competition in the state”, pointed out Coach Wren. Next Saturday, September 3; Coppell Cross Country will be competing in the Steve Telaneus Invitational at North Lakes Park in Denton.