Sun glaring, the heat picking up, sweat forming on the forehead of the runners, the Coppell cross country team was ready to run 5,000 meters on Saturday at Dallas Jesuit.
The Coppell boys cross country team placed second and the girls cross country team placed seventh in an intense meet on Saturday at Jesuit.
“Coming into this meet I knew we had a good shot at placing well,” Coppell coach Landon Wren said. “We saw a lot of teams that will compete in district and I am very pleased with how we did.”
Saturday’s meet marked the end of cross country’s regular season, as all attention is now on the District 6-6A Championship at North Lake Park in Denton on Oct. 13.
“I pretty much knew who the top seven runners were,” Wren said. “This Saturday’s meet in Jesuit allowed me to complete my roster for where the runners will most likely place.”
Running alongside each other, the two girls and seven guys that placed the best at this meet battled each other out with their times being very similar.
On the girls side, junior Mallory Sherrer ran at 19:05 and freshman Maya Easterwood ran at 19:07. On the boys side, Samarth Dubey ran at 15:45 and placed first across Coppell runners, and Dominic Piccolo ran at 16:35, his best timing in weeks.
Heading into the district championship, Wren intends to focus on recovery during practice to maximize the runners’ performances at the upcoming meet.
“We are going to cross train a little more this week,” Wren said. “Since we do not have a meet this week, I really want my athletes to get off their feet. I want them to swim or bike and maximize building their stamina without using the core muscles for running.”
Wren also wants his athletes to stay disciplined and not get caught up in any pressure.
“I want my athletes to know how valuable this opportunity is,” Wren said. “Even though they know that this is a really massive opportunity, I don’t want them to get caught up in the pressure that comes with it.”
Wren has only one objective.
“I want to make sure that they have big goals while running,” Wren said. “Not only can they place well, they should know that they have the potential to make and even win state.”
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