Competition intensified for the District 6-6A Cross Country Meet, with only the top three of eight teams qualifying for the Class 6A Region 1 Championship next week, and a shot at state.

“The meet was different because the competition was a lot [more intense],” Coppell junior runner Andrew Mullen said. “Everyone was running faster than usual; because it’s the district meet and everyone is trying to make it to regionals.”

The Coppell cross country team competed in the District 6-6A Championships yesterday at North Lakes Park in Denton, where it ran against Flower Mound, Plano East, Plano Senior, Hebron, Marcus, Plano East and Lewisville.

On the Cowgirls side of the meet, Coppell sophomore runner Alexa Turati came in with the highest finish at 13, closely followed by Coppell junior Waverly Hassman who placed 14. The Cowgirls finished in fifth place overall, making this the last meet of their season.

“The girls did good overall throughout the season.” Coppell senior runner Izzy Ortigoza said. “We need to find our drive. It’s been weird coming back to school with COVID-19 and everything, we need to find our drive and competitive spirit and go out to compete and do the best we can. We haven’t done as well as we have in the past but that’s because we’re in a transition period with new coaches.”

The Cowboys took home third place in district, being led by top finishes with Mullen placing third and Coppell junior runner Vedant Bhattacharya placing sixth. The Cowboys advance to the Class 6A Region I Meet at Mae Simmons Park In Lubbock. It will continue to prepare for its upcoming meets by focusing on consistency and focus.

“[We’re going to focus on] consistency in practice,” Mullen said. “Running everyday, running the workouts right and recovery runs at a certain pace so we don’t outdo ourselves. We’ve always got to stay focused, we can’t quit. We need to have that mentality [during races] and be able to say ‘don’t give up, don’t give up’ the whole time.”

Follow Torie (@torielpeck) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.