![Broadcast, yearbook and newspaper combined for 66 Interscholastic League Press Conference awards this year. Yearbook won 43, newspaper won 14 and broadcast took home nine. “I think [the ILPC awards] are a great way to give the kids some acknowledgement for all of their hard work,” newspaper and yearbook adviser Paige Hert said. “They typically spend the year covering everyone else’s big moments, so it’s really cool for them to be celebrated so many times and in so many different ways.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/edited-ILPC.jpg)
![Looking down at his racket, junior Hasun Nguyen hits the green tennis ball. Hasun has played tennis since he was 9 years old, and he is on the varsity team. "I feel like it’s not really appreciated in America as much, but [tennis] is a really competitive and mentally challenging sport,” Nguyen said. “I’m really level-headed and can keep my cool during a match, and that helps me play a bit better under pressure.” Photo by Kyra Cox](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/hasun.jpg)
![Bringing her arm over her head and taking a quick breath, junior Lauren Lucas swims the final laps of the 500 freestyle at the regionals swimming competition on date. Lucas broke the school’s 18-year-old record for the 500 freestyle at regionals and again at state with a time of 4:58.63. “I’d had my eye on that 500 record since my freshman year, so I was really excited to see if I could get it at regionals or districts,” Lucas said. “ State is always a really fun experience and medaling for the first time was really great. It was a very very tight race, [so] I was a bit surprised [that I medaled]. [There were] a lot of fast girls at the meet in general, [and] it was like a dogfight back and forth, back and forth.” Photo by Kaydence Wilkinson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Kaydence-2.7-23-edit-2.jpg)
![As her hair blows in the wind, senior Brianna Grandow runs the varsity girls 5K at the cross country district meet last Thursday. Grandow finished fourth in the event and led the varsity girls to regionals with a third place placement as a team. “I’m very excited [to go to regionals],” Grandow said. “I’m excited to race in Corpus Christi, and we get to go to the beach, so that’s really awesome.” Photo by Addison Bruce](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/brianna.jpg)
![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
Dust gets kicked up. Sweat is dripping down faces in the 100-degree weather. Cheers are heard all across the course, but everyone’s eyes are on one thing—the finish line. It all comes down to the final stretch—the last leg. Everyone’s last bit of energy is poured out onto the 100m stretch. Athlete after athlete sprints across the line, it’s just a matter of which team will do it fastest.
The varsity boys cross country team will advance to the UIL Region IV Cross Country Championships after placing third at the UIL 5A District meet on Oct. 10, beating Glenn, Hays, Lockhart, Rouse and Lehman. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third, and the varsity girls placed fourth.
“Yesterday our team ran really well, all girls [got a new] personal record, which I’m super excited for them, and we improved dramatically from where we were last year, just looking at the results,” head coach Jake Alexander said. “Our boys took care of business. We are going to Regionals. We didn’t make it last year, but we made it this year and got a great group and I’m really proud of the way the boys are running.”
Varsity runner and senior, Emeric Famechon, placed eighth at districts and ran a 16:27.10. To prepare for his last year running as a high schooler, he runs after school for heat training.
“I did pretty well, I beat my goal which was 16:30 and I placed top 10,” Famechon said. “Last season was rough, not making it to regionals as a junior, but it feels amazing to go this year. We’ve been putting in the work and doing everything we could and seeing those results was amazing.”
Traveling for regionals will be the first time the team will have traveled and had to stay overnight for a tournament. Regionals will be held at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the team will race on Oct. 22.
“I raced towards my expectations and performed really well [at districts and placed 15th],” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks. The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”
Varsity runner and junior Brianna Grandow placed 12th and ran a 19:59.30. This year marks her first year running on varsity.
“I broke 20 for the first time, so that was really exciting,” Grandow said. “I feel overall everyone did really great yesterday. [Getting a medal on varsity] feels a little different, and even though I’m not top five, it still matters. I’m keeping a positive attitude and not falling behind, but also pushing my teammates, so we can all be in a pack and move forward together. I think we are improving really well and there are great things to come for us.”
JV runner and freshman Mia Krupp, placed first and ran a 21:33.4. Next year she will run for varsity and plans to place higher with lots of training over the summer.
“It felt really good, I’ve never gotten first before so it was definitely an accomplishment,” Krupp said. “ Everybody did really well [at districts], and a lot of people PR’d, which was really exciting [to see].”
Alongside Krupp, JV runner and freshman Natalia Briseno came in 10th with a time of 22:54.0. Briseno recently came off of an injury and wasn’t running for five weeks.
“It definitely was a hard race, the course was hard, it was hot, but at the end coming in at 10th is really nice,” Briseno said. “It was a really good reaction from the team, everyone is always at the line waiting for you to finish and congratulate you, so it’s a nice environment to come into especially as finishing and it felt really good to be able to go run and perform how I did.”
The team has big hopes for all teams next year and believe they will be one of the best
“I think we’re prime to go run our best meet of the year at regionals,” Alexander said. “It’s going to be hot, but our team deals with adversity really well and I think it’s time to go out there and just show what CP XC does. [Next year] we’re going to be district champs.”
