The Marcus I Invitational at North Lakes Park in Denton is a north Texas cross country tradition. However, this year and going forward the name has been changed to the Coach T Invitational in honor of the late Coach Telaneus. Coach Benton remembers “Coach Telaneus as an incredible man and a mentor to many.” The Invitational was one piece of Marcus celebrating Telaneus’ cross country legacy. Coppell, Flower Mound, Southlake, Hebron, Keller, Keller Timber Creek, and Waxahachie were honored to compete alongside Marcus at the Coach T Invitational on October 10.
The Coppell Varsity Women came away with a 6th place team finish. Senior Chloe Hassman led the way with a 7th place finish and a time of 18 minutes, 43.1 seconds. Chloe’s pace was slightly faster than her 3rd place finish at the District Championship last year. She was followed by teammates Alexa Turati (30th, 19:54), Morgan Colon (32nd, 19:59), Natalie Fleming (20:22), and Lulu Ehinger (20:30).
The Coppell Varsity Men placed three runners in the top 20, for a 3rd place team finish behind Southlake and Flower Mound. Senior Evan Caswell was the individual champion with a time of 15 minutes, 15.3 seconds. Andrew Mullen (10th, 15:59), Rith Bhattacharyya (19th, 16:12), Colin Proctor (30th, 16:30), and Vedant Bhattacharyya (35th, 16:42) rounded out the scorers for Coppell.
Sophomore Waverly Hassman was Coppell’s top runner in the JV Womens’ race, finishing 2nd overall with a time of 20:20. The JV Girls placed 6th as a team. Also scoring team points for Coppell were Dia Atluri (39th, 22:40), Jeana Sheurich (43rd, 23:09), Ashlyn Wilbanks (23:40), and Saakshi Barve (23:44).
The JV men placed four runners in the top 20, which was also a 3rd place team finish behind Southlake and Flower Mound. Sophomore Alfred Fairchild led the way finishing 11th with a time of 17:36. He was followed by teammates Krish Vinish (16th, 18:10), Nicolas Martinez (18th, 18:12), Jorge Retana (20th, 18:19) and Jeevan Janeev (25th, 18:28).
Head Coach Nick Benton pointed out that many of the Coppell athletes ran really well. “As we continue to prepare for district, we will be using the results from today to develop a plan to be the best version of us at the district meet,” said Coach Benton. Next on the schedule is the Keller Invitational at Indian Springs Middle School on Saturday, October 17.