Nike Cross Regional South took place at Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands on Saturday, November 23. Cross Country teams and individuals competing in the South Regional come from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Mississippi. All teenage Cross Country runners are welcome to participate and potentially qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon. Coppell cross country took three girls’ teams and three boys’ teams to compete on the 5K course at NXR South.
The Rising Stars race is only open to freshmen and sophomores. The Boys Rising Star team finished 3rd overall in a field of 35 teams. Coppell was represented by Andrew Mullen (16th, 17:13), Samuel Martinson (17:35), Blaine Warner (17:39), Cameron Churchill-Dowd (17:46), Alfred Fairchild (17:53.3), Kavin Chengavarayan (17:53.9), and Asheer Jiwani (17:54). The Girls Rising Star team finished 4th overall in a field of 16 teams. Avery Hancock (26th, 21:06.1), Louisa Ehringer (21:06.2), Issabelle Ortizoga (21:38), Tavishka Arora (22:37), Dia Alturi (22:54), and Callie Kutz (23:14) represented Coppell.
The Coppell Girls Championship team finished 6th overall in a field of 22 teams. The stand out runner for Coppell was Shelby Spoor making the top 21 individual podium. Shelby finished sixteenth overall with a time Waverly Hassman (19:32), Chloe Hassman (19:45), Rebeca Centeno (21:29), and Reezon Eke (22:12). The Coppell Boys Championship team finished 7th overall in a field of 22 teams. The stand out runner for Coppell was Evan Caswell who also made the top 21 individual podium. Evan finished eleventh overall with a time of 15:42. Also representing Coppell was Jackson Walker (16:26), Colin Proctor (16:29), Rith Bhattacharyya (16:41), Parker Hicks (17:06), Vedant Bhattacharyya (17:12), and Riley Warner (17:13).
The Girls Open team finished 33rd overall in a field of 50 teams. Representing Coppell was Isabella Iseley (21:30), Daniela Chavarria (21:59), Taylor Peltier (22:00), Elizabeth Miller, Brooke Shortino, and Annelise Holguin. The Boys Open team finished 28th overall in a field of 88 teams. Representing Coppell was William Heatherington (17:31), Raymundo Aguirre (17:47), Andrew Crichton (18:00), Mustafa Alrawi, Karthikeyan Parthipan, Ishraj Bhandari, and Jeevan Janeev
Nike Cross Regional South marks the conclusion to the Coppell Cross Country season. “It was great to see everyone compete one last time,” said Head Coach Nick Benton. “However, it was also bittersweet since it was our seniors last time to run. We are going to miss them next season”. The Coppell distance runners will go into off season for the rest of 2019. Training will ramp up in January to prepare for the 2020 Track season.