The State Cross Country Championship meet took place at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock on Saturday, November 3.  The Girls’ Cross Country team brought back the state team championship!  This is the first state championship in the history of the Coppell Cross Country program.  On the boys’ side, Evan Caswell set a new Coppell 5K school record of 15 minutes and 31.9 seconds.  “From a coaching stand point, I couldn’t be more proud to lead the Coppell cross country program,” said Head Coach Nick Benton.  “I have never been around a group that works as hard and efficiently as this team.  Seeing it pay off was a tremendous feeling.”  

Coppell Girls took the state team championship with a 79 point finish.  “The Girls did an outstanding job of executing our race plan and running together,” said Benton. “All of the top five scorers ran their best 5K time of the season resulting in an impressive 15 second split between these five athletes”.  Sophomore Chloe Hassman led Coppell, she finished 26^th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 10.1 seconds.  Rowan Hassman (31^st, 18:16.1), Shelby Spoor (32^nd, 18:17.6), Natalie Fleming (37^th, 18:22.7), Maddie Hulcy (41^st, 18:25.3), Rebecca Centeno (126^th, 19:55.6), and Morgan Colon (141^st, 20:37.7) competed for Coppell at the State Championship meet.   

Sophomore Evan Caswell competed in the state championship as an individual boys’ 6A qualifier.  Evan finished 27^th overall with a time of 15 minutes, 31.9 seconds, setting a school 5K record.  Head Coach Nick Benton felt Evan ran tough and confidently.  “Evan is only a sophomore,” said Benton.  “I’m excited about how he will develop as an upper class man”.

There is one more competitive cross country event on the Coppell calendar.  The top 21 runners from both the Girls’ and Boys’ teams will travel to Bear Branch Park in the Woodlands to compete in the Nike South Regional meet on Saturday, November 17.  The Nike South Regional Meet is a qualifier meet for the Nike National Meet in Oregon.  The top 2 teams and top 10 individuals will qualify to run at the Nike National Meet.