Women’s 800-meter makes regionals meet to remember

Coppell+junior+runner+Olivia+Marez+competes+in+the+women%E2%80%99s+400-meter+run+at+the+Class+6A+5-6+Area+Meet+at+Buddy+Echols+Field+on+April+15.+The+Coppell+girls+track+and+field+team+placed+second+while+the+boys+placed+fifth+at+the+area+meet.

Olivia Cooper

Coppell junior runner Olivia Marez competes in the women’s 400-meter run at the Class 6A 5-6 Area Meet at Buddy Echols Field on April 15. The Coppell girls track and field team placed second while the boys placed fifth at the area meet.

Anjali Krishna, Sports Editor

With 100 meters left in the women’s 800-meter race at the District 6A 5-6 Area Meet at Buddy Echols Field, five of the top 25 ranked girls in Texas raced for four qualifying spots to the Region I Meet in one of the fastest races in Texas history. 

Each of the girls ran sub-2:10 times; its winner and largely its leader, Prosper junior Aubrey O’Connell (2:08.74), is ranked first in the state, coming off a second place in the earlier 3200 meter. Coppell sophomore Waverly Hassman claimed the third place spot (2:09:50), a Coppell record, while Flower Mound freshman Nicole Humphries (2:08.97) took second and Denton Guyer senior Brynn Brown (2:09.60) took the last position.

“I’m super excited to hold the school record,” Hassman said. “A couple meets ago I had come really close with a 2:15.76, but the next chance I got to run the 800-meter, I beat it with a 2:12. This whole season my coach has been pushing me to complete harder workouts and I’ve also been racing in the 400-meter, which gave me confidence in the 800-meter as I went sub-60 for the 400 meter multiple times. That fueled my confidence to finally go sub-2:20.”

The Cowgirls placed second while the Cowboys placed fifth. Denton Guyer took the girls title and Lewisville Marcus finished first for the boys. Coppell senior runner Evan Caswell (9:29.01) won the area title in the 3,200-meter, with Lewisville sophomore Riley Nedrow lagging in second at 9:33.44. Despite the rainy weather, thought to damage speeds, the meet was one of the fastest in Texas. 

“The rain made the race that much more fun and definitely amped up our adrenaline,” Coppell senior runner Emma Sherrer said. “I was nervous about baton handoffs and it being slippery but it worked out fine. As a 4×400 relay team, we really were not expecting Allen to run such a good time, who ran seven seconds faster than they did last week, so going into regionals we are ranked third instead of the expected second.”

On the boys side, Coppell qualified its 4×400 and 4×200 relays, as well as five competitors. The girls qualified its 4×400 relay team and five individuals. Coppell sophomore Sky Schuller qualified in five events: high jump, pole vault, long jump, 100-hurdles and 300-hurdles.

The race went as expected, not really any new competition from the other district so the race felt very similar to the district meet last week,” Coppell senior Colin Proctor said. “Definitely wasn’t a walk in the park though, I had to push through at the end in order to secure my spot.”

Regionals will be held at the University of Texas in Arlington on Friday and Saturday.

“This is the best Coppell has run since before I was a freshman and we’re very excited to be moving onto regionals,” Sherrer said. “Considering how many athletes we have moving on, I think the track program has a very bright future.”

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