Coppell Cross Country boys and girls competed on a hilly course at the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival on Saturday, September 16. This meet gave Coppell athletes an opportunity to race with teams from Houston, Austin, Arkansas, as well as across DFW.
The highly competitive meet began with the Elite Varsity Girls race. Junior Mallory Sherrer ran a strong race and led the way for Coppell by coming in 21st with a time of 18 minutes and 51 seconds. Freshman Maya Easterwood was in next for Coppell. She placed 33rd overall and finished her race in 19 minutes and 15 seconds. Lucy Martinson (20:59), Rachel Arrington (21:06) and Lauren Bennett (21:10) also scored for the team. Head Coach Wren was very pleased with their performance. “Mallory Sherrer, Maya Easterwood, Lauren Bennett, and Bess Williams all ran their best 5K of the year,” he said.
Elite Varsity Boys placed 7th overall out of 46 teams. The top five finishers for Coppell were Samarth Dubey (31st, 15:39), Rohit Kalpathy (38th, 15:54), Pranav Vegiraju (16:13), Grant O’Neal (16:30), and Jayden Benjamin (16:41). “The boys' varsity elite team finished a little lower than I was hoping. We had to overcome some adversity in that race, but I was pleased with how Samarth Dubey, Rohit Kalpathy, and Jayden Benjamin stepped up,” reflected Coach Wren.
Ashlyn Wilbanks (39th, 21:52), Jeana Scheurich (22:07), and Avery Fishman (22:56) ran the Varsity girls race for Coppell.
Coppell Varsity Boys secured the impressive 3rd spot at their race, led by Jase Wilson who placed 16th overall with a time of 17 minutes and 15 seconds. He was followed by Juniors Dillon Khera (25th, 17:26), Bartosz Wendland (26th, 17:30), Tanish Neelapu (35th, 17:47) and Krish Sirpal (18:04). Coach spoke highly of the efforts shown by Jase Wilson, Dillon Khera, and Bartosz Wendland, who he said ran their best races of the season so far.
Coppell JV Elite Girls placed 10th overall in their event. Akshaya Ashokanand (22:48), Sutton Rasmussen (23:25), Pragna Vykuntam (23:25), Raina Patel (23:45), and Brianna Henderson (24:02) were scorers for the team.
JV Elite Boys ran a tight race and placed 3rd at their event. They were led by Rodrigo Abrego who placed 10th overall with a time of 17 minutes and 39 seconds. Teammate Henry Hayden came next (12th,18:10), followed by Diego Morales (13th, 18:11), Hugh Harris (18:22), and Aliasghar Ali (19:29). Coach Wren was excited to see the strong finish demonstrated by JV Elite Boys.
Kriti Chalgeri (25:59), Freshman Sri Tiyyagura (26:12), and Junior Ellie Dalton (27:42) ran the JV Girls race at Lovejoy.
JV Boys placed 7th overall at their event. The top five finishers for Coppell were all Freshmen led by Farhan Mohammed (19th, 19:27), Sachid Pola (20th, 19:30), Christian Todd (20:57), Edmar Perez (21:09), and Sandre Houdier (21:20).
Coach Wren added that next week while the top runners will compete at the HOKA/McNeil Invitational in Round Rock, the Flower Mound Invitational will offer another opportunity for our other runners to continue to improve.