By Mike Pankonien
Staff Writer
Seven races down, three races to go. As the season draws closer and closer to the qualifying meets for state, the warm ups get longer and the days get shorter. However, if there is team in the state that’s going to be ready for district, it is the Coppell girls cross country team.
Meeting at the school at 6:30 a.m., the girl’s team runs a course in preparation for the big day. The course takes individuals different times to complete, but the team always starts together. It is a team which has not change much since last year.
“No one really graduated last year, we just added some freshmen to the team,” junior Kim Kirby said. “We’ve all been working together for a long time now and we’ve definitely stepped up practice between meets.”
Kirby would know as one of the few juniors on the team. Kirby is named the third junior runner in the state for girls by txrunning.com. Also Kirby placed second at the McKinney Boyd meet, the Marcus Invitational, and the Southlake Carroll Invitational. Kirby also went on to come in first at the Lubbock Invitational and the Keller Invitational.
The team is composed of roughly 30 girls and is split into two teams, varsity and junior varsity. The teams do not let this separate them, however.
“We have pasta parties every Thursday to get ready for a meet, and we try to go to movies together all the time,” sophomore Alexis Meyer said.
Overall, the extra practice and team work seems to be paying off. The varsity team has come in first in four of its previous races and second in two of its previous races. A recent poll ranked Coppell sixth in the state and second in its area.
After having to cancel their home meet on the Oct. 9 and having a bye week for the Oct.24, the team has had plenty of rest time to prepare for their upcoming challenge: district. Extra practices and a whole weekend devoted to training instead of competing have left the team in good shape for the upcoming event.
The team goes to district on Oct. 30, region on Nov. 7 in Lubbock and finally state on Nov. 14 in Austin. The team will go up against six other teams at district, all of them strong competitors in recent meets, but the team still remains positive.
“We’re coming down to the end of the season, but I’m confident we’ll do well,” Kirby said.
