Coppell XC Varsity Boys, as well as Maya Easterwood and Mallory Sherrer competed at UIL Region I XC Championships held at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock on October 23. Coppell XC runners tackled the hilly and challenging Lubbock course, competing with top three teams from each of eight Districts in Region I. The top four winning teams were to advance to the State Championship to be held at Round Rock on November 4, as well as top 10 individual runners of teams that didn't qualify for the state championship as a team.

Freshman Maya Easterwood and Junior Mallory Sherrer ran as individuals in the 6A Girls race. Maya Easterwood secured the 14th spot overall and ran her race in 18 minutes and 39 seconds. Her motivated performance helped her secure a spot as an individual runner at the State Championship. Head Coach Wren was very pleased with Maya’s performance and felt she ran her best race of the year. “Maya was aggressive on the course and proved that she can compete on the big stage,” he added. Mallory Sherrer came in 95th out of 174 runners and ran her race in 20 minutes and 39 seconds.

Coppell XC Varsity Boys came in 5th behind Southlake Carroll, McKinney Boyd, El Paso Franklin, and El Paso Eastwood, and missed the opportunity to compete at the State Championship. Leading the Coppell boys was Henry Henze who placed 19th overall and ran his race in 15 minutes and 56 seconds. His inspired performance ensured his spot as an individual runner at the State Championship. Coach Wren said that “Henry who has been our number 1 runner all year, battled the tough course and ran well enough to advance. I am glad he was able to attain a goal he had at the beginning of the year,” he added. Next in for Coppell was Samarth Dubey, who came in 23rd overall and finished his race in 16 minutes and 2 seconds. Rohit Kalpathy (37th, 16:16), Pranav Vegiraju (44th, 16:21) and Grant O’Neal (61st, 16:40) were also scorers for Coppell. Ansh Singhal ( 17:01) and Dominic Piccolo (17:20) completed the seven runners for Coppell Varsity in the 6A Boys race. 

Coach Wren said he’s feeling excited about Maya’s and Henry’s performance at the State Meet and is confident they will perform well. About the Boys team’s performance, Coach Wren said that “they fell one place short of their ultimate goal of getting back to the State Meet. I feel like the guys ran well on a difficult course. The competition this year was the toughest it's been in recent history. Had we run a perfect race, it still was going to be tough to get into the top 4. I am so proud of this group though. After graduating five boys from last year's team, many thought that this would be a rebuilding year. I, nor any of the kids, ever looked at this year like that. This year's team stepped up in a way that really impressed me. When the dust settled, we were right on the doorstep to another state appearance,” he concluded.