Cross Country competition for Coppell returned to a grassy rolling terrain, on the Flower Mound 2 mile course behind Shadow Ridge Middle School in Flower Mound on September 19.  In compliance with UIL guidelines this was a small meet composed of eight teams and each team was limited to ten athletes in a division.  The start line was noticeably less crowded and there were few spectators.  Safety for the athletes is obviously the top priority for making it through the cross country season.  

The Varsity Boys team captured 1st place with five runners placing in the top 10.  Senior Evan Caswell won the completion with a 1st place time of 9 minutes, 44.9 seconds.  Rith Bhattacharyya (3^rd, 10:03), Andrew Mullen (4^th, 10:08), Kavin Chengavarayan (7^th, 10:26), and Vedant Bhattacharyya (9^th, 10:31) rounded out the point scorers for Coppell.

The Varsity Girls team placed fourth overall.  The girls were led by senior Chloe Hassman, she finished 9^th with a time of 12 minutes, 1 second.  Next in for Coppell were Morgan Colon (15^th, 12:14), Natalie Fleming (17^th, 12:20), Louisa Ehinger (12:31), and Reezon Eke (12:41).

The JV Boys team won 1^st place with a perfect score!  Sophomore Cameron Churchill-Dowd finished 1^st overall with a time of 10 minutes 49.4 seconds.  Alfred Fairchild (2^nd, 11:01), Dylan Newsome (3^rd, 11:01.4), Jeevan Janeev (4^th, 11:06), and Jorge Retana (5^th, 11:10) made up the perfect scorers for Coppell.

The JV Girls team finished 2^nd overall.  Freshman Alyza Siddiqui finished 13^th overall with a time of 13 minutes, 44.6 seconds.  She was followed by Mahek Khandelwal (15^th, 13:50), Elizabeth Grace Walker (17^th, 13:56), Ashlyn Wilbanks (18^th, 13:56.6), and Tavishka Arora (19^th, 14:08).

Head coach Benton commented that is was great for the teams to be back on a cross country course again.  “Both teams left the meet with plenty to work on,” Coach Benton said.  He was pleased with the perfect score that the JV boys came away with, as well as, the win for the Varsity boys.  Next on the schedule is the Coppell Invitational at Coppell Middle School West on September 26.