Saturday, August 21 marked the beginning of the 2021 cross country season.  For Coppell this competition also represented a new chapter under the leadership of Head Coach Landon Wren.  In July, Coach Nick Benton left CISD to pursue a career in aviation.  Coach Wren comes to Coppell with coaching experience from Lewisville and Decatur high schools.  The 5K course at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational at Lakeview Camp provided Coach Wren with his first opportunity to see Coppell athletes in competition.    

The Varsity Girls’ finished in 5th place overall.  Sophomore Alexa Turati was the top runner for Coppell.  She finished 21^st overall with a time of 19 minutes, 24.5 seconds.  Alyza Siddiqui (24^th, 19:41), Mallory Sherrer (28^th, 19:47), Waverly Hassman (20:14), and Avery Hancock (20:42) were the top finishers for Coppell.

The Varsity Boys’ team brought back a 1^st place team finish.  Junior Andrew Mullen led the cowboys; he finished 1^st overall repeating his personal best time of 15 minutes, 33.3 seconds.  Karthikeyan Parthipan had a strong 5^th place finish with a time of 16:14.  Other top Varsity finishers for Coppell were Kavin Chengavarayan (9^th, 16:35), Samuel Martinson (18^th, 16:45), and Ashan Habeeb (21^st, 16:48).   

The JV Girls’ team placed 3^rd overall.  Sophomore Hanna Noyola crossed the finish line first for Coppell in 6^th place overall with a time of 21 minutes, 46 seconds.  Next in was Saanvi Gaddam with a 12^th place finish and a time of 22:18.  Lucy Martinson (22:46), Mehak Gandotra (23:01), and Jeana Sheurich (23:03) rounded out the top five finishers for Coppell.   

The JV Boys’ team was the last Coppell team to run the course.  Sophomore Henry Henzi placed 1^st overall with an impressive time of 17 minutes, 2 seconds.  The next top five finishers for Coppell were Bunker Harris (9^th, 18:37), Grant O’Neal (14^th, 19:04), Jonas Rogers (15^th, 19:10), and Dillon Khera (16^th, 19:11).  Five strong finishes secured another 1^st place team finish for Coppell.

Coach Wren was really proud of how the athletes competed.  On the girls’ side Coach Wren noted.  “We just need to continue to do the things daily that we know we have to do to improve.  I think we are capable of running better and I know we will when the (district) championship is here”.  On the boys’ side Coach Wren pointed out.  “This is just the beginning because we have higher team goals to accomplish.  We have to continue to be disciplined and hold each other accountable”.  Next Saturday, August 28 Coppell Cross Country will be competing in the Southlake Carroll Invitational at Bob Jones Park in Southlake.