Coppell Cross Country Head Coach Landon Wren took 30 runners to Bear Branch Park at The Woodlands, TX for the Nike Cross Regionals South 2022 last Saturday, November 19. “This is always a fun meet for spectators to watch and for the kids to compete in. This year, the cold and rainy conditions added an extra element to the races. You get to compete against some of the top teams and runners in this area of the country”, Coach Wren said. The South meet included teams and individual runners from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi.
Reflecting after the meet, Coach Wren said, “It was great to see our four boys' teams and our four girl individuals compete one last time this season. On the girls' side, the standout runner was Sophomore, Mallory Sherrer (19:33) who was recognized for finishing in the top 21 of the open division and was awarded a t-shirt.” Junior Ashlyn Wilbanks (22:40) competed in this group as well.
“The boys' team, in the championship race, didn't finish as high as we were hoping, but still took home an 8th place trophy. Finishing in the top 10 at this meet is still quite the accomplishment.”
Senior Andrew Mullen, despite being under the weather, led the team with a 27th place finish with a time of 16:24. Following closely were Juniors Samarth Dubey (16:25) and Henry Henze (16:30). Vedant Bhattacharyya (16:56) and Cameron Churchill-Dowd (17:04) scored for the team as well. Samuel Martinson and Kavin Chengavarayan completed this team.
The Rising Stars division is open only to Freshmen and Sophomores. The Boys Rising Stars team finished in 7th place with Rohit Kalpathy (17:07) placing 26th overall. Joining him were Srivanth Rudrangi (17:33), Ansh Singhal (17:41), Dillon Khera (17:52), Grant O’Neal (18:02), Sarvesh Jagtap and Hugh Harris.
The Girls Rising Stars had two runners with Sophomores Rachel Arrington (21:20) and Lucy Martinson (21:50) competing.
Coppell had two groups in the Boys Open. Representing CTX Cross A were Dominic Piccolo (16:42), Krish Vinish (17:17), James Tan (17:28), Cole Stehly (17:48), Bunker Harris (20:40), Kyle Mobley and Rohan Shanbag.
CTX Cross B runners included Aiden George (18:09), Krish Sirpal (19:01), Varun Potluri (20:20) and Tahir Ali (20:57).
The Coppell Cross Country team now enters the off season and will be ramping up training for the Track season in January 2023. “Many of our kids ran really well and competed hard in the adverse conditions”, Coach Wren noted. “I hope the success of this year's cross-country season will carry over into the track season.”