The starting gun went off bright and early at the Steve Telaneus Invitational in North Lakes Park on Saturday, September 3. Coppell Cross Country was able to line up with district opponents as well as top talent from around the state. Coppell finished with strong individual and team performances on the 5K course that they will return to for the District 6 Championship Meet.
The Boys’ Varsity team took 2nd place in the Elite Varsity division. Seniors Andrew Mullen and Vedant Bhattacharyya led the Cowboys. Andrew finished 9th overall with a time of 15 minutes, 36.9 seconds. Vedant was right on his heels with a 10th place finish (15:37.7). Samarth Dubey (26th) clocked an impressive 15:56.7 with Henry Henze (29th, 15:57) right behind him. Samuel Martinson (45th, 16:21) and Asheer Jiwani (47th, 16:23) pushed each other to lock in a strong team score for Coppell. Coppell placed 4th overall in the Open Varsity Boys’ division. Junior Dominic Piccolo led Coppell finishing in 13th place overall with a time of 16 minutes, 52.8 seconds. Next in for Coppell were Cole Stehly (29th, 17:15), Rohit Kalpathy (30th, 17:19), Cameron Churchill-Dowd, and Jase Wilson.
The Varsity Girls’ team placed 19th overall in the Elite Varsity division. Coppell had a great performance from Senior Lulu Ehinger. She finished 43rd overall with a time of 19 minutes 14.7 seconds. Mallory Sherrer (58th, 19:31), Ava Beaty (20:50), Rachel Arrington, and Annie Reeder rounded out the point scorers for Coppell. The Cowgirls’ placed 26th overall in the Open Varsity race. Junior Saanvi Gaddam led the girls, she finished 122nd overall with a time of 22 minutes, 3.9 seconds. Next in for Coppell were Amala Rao, Mahek Khandelwal, Tavishka Arora, and Alexa Turati.
The JV Boys placed 4th overall in the Elite JV division. Sophomores Grant O’Neal and Dillon Khera took turns leading the Cowboys. Grant placed 15th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 32.2 seconds. Dillon Khera (18th, 18:38), Srivanth Rudrangi (19:18), Rodrigo Abrego (19:19), and Hugh Harris were the top finishers for Coppell. Coppell did not have enough athletes competing for a team finish in the Elite JV Girls division. However, Coppell was represented individually by Bess Williams (33rd, 23:05), Mehak Gandotra (75th, 24:18), Ashlyn Wilbanks, and Brianna Henderson.
Head Coach Landon Wren was pleased with how Coppell measured up against District 6 rivals on a challenging course. “The boys had another impressive showing. The competition amongst teammates is pushing the boys to run well. We’re having early success because we are focusing on training each and every day. We don’t want to look too far down the road and get distracted from our daily work”, said Coach Wren. On the girls’ side, Coach Wren noted. “I like the improvement that I’m seeing from all of our girls. I felt like the girls competed well on the most challenging course we’ve faced this season. The progress that I’m seeing from some of our sophomore and freshman girls has been impressive”. Next up on the schedule is the Flower Mound Invitational at Shadow Ridge Middle School on Saturday, September 10.