On Saturday, teams statewide arrived at the Lovejoy Fall Festival at Myers Park. The Coppell boys cross country team placed seventh and the girls finished 18th.

“There were many good teams that we will see at district and state,” Coppell coach Landon Wren said. “We showed up on Saturday and got a taste of what future competitions will look like.”

Wren used performance from this meet to see who is going to become a part of the Cowboys final roster. 

“We needed guys and girls to step up,” Wren said. “I saw a lot of good runs and a lot of kids made new personal records.”

Rohit Kalpathy, a sophomore, ran his best ever race for 5000 meters at 15:53.4. Pranav Vegiraju, a junior, ran his best race ever at 15:58.1. And Henry Henze, a senior, ran his best race at 15:17.1.

Looking ahead, the team only has two more meets prior to the District strict 6-6A championship. 

“We really need to step up our game now,” Wren said. “[With] district in October and regionals in November,  I have to pick seven of our guys and girls, and they need to step up and want to win.”

As the team finishes out its regular season at the next two meets and heads into postseason, Wren hopes to work up to earning a state title this year. He wants his students to stay consistent and stay disciplined to get ready for the bigger competitions.

“I don’t want anyone to be surprised if we make state,” Wren said. “State is an expectation that we want our students to live up to, but we first have to get through the season and district.”

The team’s next meet is the Hoka/McNeil Invitational at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock on Saturday September 23rd, which is the site of the UIL State Cross Country Meet in November.