The Wylie girls’ cross country team finished fifth out of 13 teams in the Oct. 10 Coppell Cross Country Roundup at Andy Brown Jr. Community Park. The boys’ team placed eighth of 11 teams.

The Pirates will compete Saturday in the Poteet Invitational at Samuell Farm. It will be their last official competition prior to the Oct. 30 District 8-5A meet at Myers Park in McKinney.

A talented field of competitors took to the Cowboy footpaths early Friday afternoon.

Wylie’s girls finished 40 points ahead of District 8-5A opponent Plano, the only other district foe represented.

Coach Kate Wright said, “We still do not have a lead runner that is posting outstanding times at the front of the race, but we have a solid core group that is working as a team to push one another.”

The team approach has the Wylie girls posting their best team average in the last four years.

Kaitlyn Vance (12:47), Tierny Tallant (12:54) and Ally Easley (12:59) were the first trio to cross the finish line of the 2-mile course.

Samantha Cooper (13:18) and Brittany Reynolds (13:27) completed the team score. Andre Guerra (14:02) was sixth.

The boys’ squad continues to be led by Cole Diaz. He recorded a 17:49 for the 5K course. Devonte Jones and Collin Sloane posted times of 18:06 and 18:07, respectively, and were closely followed by James Klugh (18:18) and James LeRoy (18:32).

Austin Valdepena (19:10) and Dillon Johnson (20:18) were the sixth and seventh runners to cross for Wylie.

Jones has provided a spark for the team. That has been accompanied by strong performances from Sloane and LeRoy.

Klugh is recently back from an injury but is making a contribution. Valdepena, Johnson, Donald Macarthy and Josh Young are battling for the final varsity spot.

“Our varsity is really young and we have to grow and mature on the run,” said coach Daren Rodriguez.

The JV girls had seven of 12 runners record a personal best. Andi Love (13:27) led the squad with a third-place finish overall.

Janelle Robinson (13:43) finished seventh. Other JV runners were Maggie Garza, Kristin Womble, Leslie Sullivan, Kristine Davidson, Deidra Coles, Kalynn Blassingame, Courtney Kasprowicc, Myrna Ruiz and Haley Been.

The JV boys were led by Macarthy (19:14) who shaved 43 seconds off his previous best time. James Pumphrey (19:36) and Young (19:37) battled for position throughout the race.

The next three finishers were Evan Nastro (21:52), Andrew Robinson (22:26) and Dong Lam (24:51).