Coppell High School wrestling coach Chip Lowery was honored this week by being vote the District 5-5A Coach of the Year for Wrestling. After moving into the toughest district with powerhouses like Flower Mound and Lewisville, Lowery was deserving of the award.

Even more prestigious than the award itself is the manner in getting it. The award is voted on by the coaches of all teams in the district and this yea Lowery was chosen by a group of his peers.

“It is good to get that honor. It is good for the school, but it was bittersweet because we did not win the (district) tournament,” Lowery said.

Lowery even though he was honored by the award admits that he would trade it in at any time for a win at the district meet held last Friday at CHS. The Cowboys finished second in the district behind Flower Mound

His wrestlers were even more ecstatic for him.

“I was  really happy about it, because he works so hard, that he deserves some kind of award for all he does for us,” senior Daniel Murillo said. “He goes out of his way to make us better.”

Lowery however did not celebrate for long with them.

“They congratulated me and there was a lot of clapping but we had more work to do,” Lowery said. “We did not spend a lot of time dwelling on it.”

This is the first time Lowery has received this award since the previous district he was in did not give out the award at the end of the year.

Road to state begins for Cowboys

As the season wraps up the Cowboys, after a subpar performance in the District 5-5A meet, will travel to Allen the past threetime state champs to compete in the Region III wrestling meet. The meet will be held at Allen High School on Feb. 7-8.

State qualifiers from the regional meet will then travel back to Allen ISD for the state competition. That meet will be on Feb. 22-23 at the Delco Arena.

The team has strong candidates to qualify to state like seniors Stephanie Martinez (148), Gerald Meddaugh (160) and Daniel Murillo (132), who has had the most impressive performance of the year with his perfect mark being tested in the upcoming meet.