The Coppell Cross Country team wrapped up the regular cross country season at the Coppell II Invitational on Saturday, October 24. The 5K course located at Coppell West Middle School, soft in places after a hard rain on Friday, provided one final challenge for the team to run through. Coppell’s slogan for the 2020 XC season is “Through Any Conditions”. The cross country team and coaches have proven their desire to compete through any condition this season. The season in general has been a moving target with various UIL revisions of the season timeline, competition size limits, and multiple alterations of meet schedules. Despite all the challenges the Coppell athletes and coaches have adapted and focused on what they could control.
The Girls’ team placed 2nd overall in the Varsity Girls division. Sophomore Louisa Ehinger led the girls; she finished in 3rd place with a time of 20 minutes, 45 seconds. Reezon Eke (8th, 21:47), Avery Hancock (11th, 22:18), Zoebella Madison (12th, 22:24), and Jeana Sheurich (19th, 23:09) rounded out the point scorers for the cowgirls this week. Avery, Zoebella, Jeana, Daniela Chavarria, Alyza, Megan, and Ashlyn surpassed their Coppell course personal records.
The Cowboys’ won the Varsity Boys division with all five scorers placing in the top 10. Blaine Warner was the top runner for Coppell with a 1st place finish in a time of 17 minutes, 16 seconds. Vedant Bhattacharyya was right behind him with a 2nd place finish of 17 minutes, 18 seconds. Raymundo Aquirre (5th, 17:35), Dylan Newsome (8th, 17:41), and Karthikeyan Parthipan (9th, 17:46) earned Coppell a team score of 25. Seniors Greg Sabuncuyan, Andrew Crichton, Shaylan Patel, and Jonathan Le were welcome additions to the team.
The Coppell girls placed 4th overall in the JV division. Coppell was led by Freshman Aria Juma; she finished ninth with a time of 24 minutes, 30 seconds. Ramya Chintala (17th, 25:31), Elise Akin (19th, 25:49), Brianna Henderson, Mithila Vijay and Daniela Noyola competed for Coppell.
The Boys’ also won the JV division with a perfect score of 15. Freshman Kirsh Vinish was the JV boys’ individual champion with a time of 18 minutes, 34 seconds. Top eight finishing teammates were Jase Wilson (2nd, 18:40), Henry Henze (3rd, 18:51), Samuel Martinson (4th), Diego Acosta (5th), Samarth Dubey (6th), Lane Jacobs (7th), and James Tan (8th). Nicholas Kho, Anurrag Ayancha, Aadarsh Sankar, Cole, Carson Keyes, Asheer Jiwani, Kyle Mobley, Santiago Garcia, Bunker Harris, Dominic Piccolo, Cooper Schultz, Saketh, and Connor Li ran in their first cross country meet this season.
“It was great to see some of our athletes that have not had an opportunity to compete all season run on Saturday,” said Head Coach Nick Benton. “District varsity spots were also finalized from the meet results.” Coach Benton is proud of this team and states they are ready for the district meet. Friday, October 30 Coppell will compete in the District 6-6A Championship at North Lakes Park in Denton. The District Championship is the conclusion of the JV Cross Country season. The top two Varsity Cross Country teams, as well as, the top ten individuals in District 6 will qualify to compete in the Region 1-6A Championship in Lubbock.