Finally, there was some sports under the Friday Night Lights.
Whenever people think of Friday Night Lights, the first thought is football but, in The Woodlands, last week there was a different kind of sport that involved running that took place under those said lights – Cross Country.
The John Cooper School cross country teams were off to the races in that annual race. Nine girls set new personal records for the Dragons in the two-mile race, while almost every boy improved on their times from 2018.
The Cooper boys' team ran in the Varsity B (4K) race, putting two runners in the Top 20. Junior Will McDermott finished seventh with a time of 13:35 (PR) followed by senior Cadan Hanson in 17th place with a personal record of 13:56. Sophomore Vishnu Swaminathan also ran well in his first cross country meet finishing in 31st place. Carson Hanson and Alex Everson rounded out the Top 5 scorers for Cooper.
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The girls' team ran in two divisions. We ran our Top 5 girls in the Varsity A (Elite) Division while the remainder ran in the Varsity B race. Freshmen Keira Van der Linden and Megan Day led the Varsity B races with 2-mile times of 14:31 and 14:34. They were followed by sophomore Bailey Leavitt with a time of 14:43. The Varsity A race was led by junior Katie Drake who ran a time of 13:32. She was followed by freshman Chloe Smith at 13:44 and Abby Mendenhall at 13:47. Rebecca Melin and Madison Breuax also ran well finishing out the scoring for Cooper.
"We are happy to have our first meet in the books," Coach George Dohner said. "This was a tough course with tough muddy conditions. Several runners lost shoes in the race and were still able to run a good race. We are looking forward to next week's Cooper Invitational where we will open up the rest of our runners. This is going to be a great year."
Next up for Dragon Cross Country:
Aug. 31 hosting the Cooper Dragon Invitational at Burroughs Park, 8 a.m.
Sept. 19 at Willis Wildcat Invitational, Misty Meadows Girl Scout Camp