Cooper's Nasta takes first at Friday Night Lights

Pedro Nasta, a senior at The John Cooper School, finished in first place in the Boys Varsity A-Elite race at Friday Night Lights Aug. 29 at Bear Branch Sports Park. Nasta ran a 4K/2.5 mile in 12:18, contributing to the team's eighth place finish. In addition, the Dragons set many personal records.

Also scoring for the boys were Jonathan Goodridge who finished 40th (13:34), Ryan Mullen, 44th (13:39), Cody Bohan, 57th (13:49) and John Mullen, 127th (14:48).

The Cooper girls' team ran only four runners, but all improved on last year's Friday Night Lights performance. Top finishers for Cooper included Kylie Melodick (76th), Natalie Sos (80th), Nina Rivela (99th) and Sonya Bhatia (101) of 180 runners.

"Pedro has put in so much work this summer and is as fit as any runner I have ever coached," said Cooper Head Coach George Dohner. "The rest of the team has also put in the work this summer and is shaping up to be one our best overall teams. This is going to be a special year and we can't wait to see where it will go."
This was the team's first competition of the season. Next up for the Dragons is the Region III Preview Sept. 13 at Atascosita High School.