The Plano East boys and girls cross country team pose for pictures after placing second and first, respectively, in the District 7-6A meet on Monday at Myers Park in McKinney. Photo courtesy Robert Reed
By David Wolman
MCKINNEY — Last year, the Plano East girls cross country team had to wait until after the District 7-6A meet to learn whether it had won the district championship.
Ultimately, Plano East prevailed in a tiebreaker against Prosper to claim its first district title since 2017.
At Monday morning’s district meet, the Lady Panthers faced another close battle, with Plano and Coppell close behind. But as runners crossed the finish line, head coach Robert Reed felt confident that a tiebreaker wouldn’t be necessary this time.
He was right.
Plano East scored 48 points at Myers Park to claim its second consecutive district title. Plano finished second with 59 points, while Coppell placed third with 60 points to also qualify for the Region I-6A meet.
“With us having three in the top 10 and others stepping up, we figured that we had it,” Reed said.
The Plano East boys also qualified for regionals as a team for the first time since 2019. The Panthers secured their spot in Lubbock by finishing second with 72 points, four ahead of Lake Highlands (76), which also qualified for regionals. Coppell won the team title with 36 points.
Monday marked the first time since 2017 that Plano East qualified both its boys and girls teams for the regional meet in the same year.
“It’s been a hot minute, but it was good enough to get both teams out to regionals,” Reed said. “Thankfully, we had enough of a gap today and got a little brave and see what we could make happen. I’m really proud of them.”
Coppell senior Maya Easterwood won the girls’ race in 18:44, but Plano East senior Meena Mulford delivered a strong performance of her own. Mulford finished second in 19:30, 26 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Finleigh Sanders-Burk, a Coppell sophomore who clocked 19:56.
Reed praised the effort of junior Sophia Nguyen, who finished sixth in 20:24. Her familiarity with the course paid off.
Senior Brooke Tierney also contributed to Plano East’s title, placing seventh in 20:34. Like Mulford and Nguyen, Tierney earned a spot on the All-District 7-6A first team by finishing in the top 10.
Juniors Louisa Christensen (16th, 21:05) and Reagan Diggs (18th, 21:08), along with senior Kate Salyer (17th, 21:07), ran as a pack to provide crucial team points for the championship effort. Freshman Taylor Chu placed 26th in 22:00, gaining valuable experience.
Freshman Josie Gryglas was crowned JV district champion.
On the boys’ side, senior Isaac Updike has led Plano East throughout the season and again set the tone Monday, placing sixth overall in 16:38.
Sophomore Levi Rowe continued his late-season push by finishing 12th in 16:48 and qualifying for regionals for the second consecutive year. Sophomore Alex Castillo finished just behind him in 13th in 17:08.
Junior Trinabh Madadi also earned a spot on the All-District 7-6A second team, placing 18th in 17:36.
Senior Michael Sharp finished 23rd in 17:49, while sophomore Grant Updike placed 29th in 18:26.
“Isaac has been really consistent,” Reed said. “Levi has bounced back and ran some better races. Same for Alex. We didn’t have our No. 2 (Deyan Bhakta) because of an injury, but we had other people come in and step up.”
The Region II-6A meet is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.
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