IT WASN’T UNTIL 04:30 or so in the morning that the Lutkenhaus family made it home after their trip to Eugene, where their son, Cooper, had produced what many hailed as the greatest prep performance of all time.
Just 3 hours later, Chris Capeau, Lutkenhaus’s coach at Northwest High (Justin, Texas) was surprised to see the 16-year-old reporting to cross country practice. “He just doesn’t miss,” says Capeau. “While everyone else has the opportunity, he’s using the opportunity. He shows up.”
However, Cooper Lutkenhaus is not focused on improving his 15:58 PR during the upcoming cross season. Unlike other incoming juniors, he has the unusual predicament of having to instead get ready for the WC in Tokyo in mid-September, where he will be representing Team USA in the 800.
Before he could begin to focus on his next steps in training, he had to wade through all of the interviews. “It was definitely crazy,” he says, “but it’s slowing down.” When you’re the most exciting teenage runner in America since Jim Ryun, people want to talk.
And the performance itself, 1:42.27 for a close 2nd in the USATF Champs 800 final, has taken a while to get his head around. “It’s still kind of crazy to think about, honestly. It was a special race. Going into that weekend, it was more of a learning experience than anything — just seeing what I could do, seeing how the rounds would feel and just seeing how far I could make it.
“Because in my eyes, I thought I could make the semis. So if I didn’t get out of the semis, I wouldn’t have been upset, but I would have been, ‘Man, I wish I’d made the final.’”
That semi race — which Lutkenhaus ran like a final — almost was the end of the road. He nearly fell after halfway. “Coming through 400, I was in about 2nd, but I kind of just let off the gas a little bit and everybody went by. I would say at that moment, it was kind of my fault.
“I just didn’t hang onto Bryce [Hoppel], but the pace just kind of felt super-fast to me just because my legs were tired from the prelims the day before. Obviously, I’m not 100% sure what happened. Somebody, I guess, tripped up in the front, which tripped up another guy who seemed like he had to almost fully stop. So I had to put my hands into him to obviously try to stay up, but it was a crazy moment, that’s for sure.”
The mishap might actually have saved Lutkenhaus, who says he had lost focus before that point. “The 800, it’s such a short race, but you can kind of fall asleep. I might have fallen asleep for 50m coming into the 400. The adrenaline kicked in and locked me back into the race.” He produced a blazing finish (26.33 final 200) to qualify for the final behind Hoppel.
Despite that emotional effort, he says he still felt fresh for the final. “The day in between I just ran 2M. I got the legs back pretty good, I think. I just wanted to get out there and race against the top guys in the U.S. I don’t think there was any fear of maybe not having it in my legs for the final, because if I got last, nobody would have said anything. The fact that I made the final was the main goal.”
Would he do anything different if he had the chance? He admits he’s been thinking about that. “Yeah,” he says. “I would say pushing that third 200 just a little more. The biggest thing would be starting my kick a little bit sooner. I really started to go at 200 [remaining], but I think if I went at 220, it would have been a better race.
“But honestly,” he adds with a laugh, “I can’t be mad at all with the race.”
Could an earlier kick have caught winner Donavan Brazier? Most observers thought he had the momentum, if the race had only been a little longer. “You never know,” replies Lutkenhaus, clearly uncomfortable with blowing that particular horn. “Donavan ran a fabulous race. He ran a perfect race in my eyes. But, I mean, nobody knows… the 820-meter race isn’t a thing… I can’t be mad with how I performed.”
Capeau admits that workouts leading up to USATF made him think his charge would be capable of “1:43-high to 1:44-low. We thought that was possible: 1:42 blows our minds.” He adds that Lutkenhaus “had a little ding on an IT band a couple weeks out. We had to slow down and back off to make sure that we were doing the right things… It’s almost like his body told us we need to back off. We backed off and listened to it. And it turned out to be something exceptional.”
Lutkenhaus reflects, “Going into the race, I thought, ‘This is a great way to end the season, making the USA final.’ But there’s always a thought in the back of your mind, ‘What if I made the team?’… What’s the plan after that? I remember afterwards I was talking with my dad, I said, ‘So we’re going to Tokyo, right?’ He said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Now coach and athlete are focused on Tokyo, their season extended by an unexpected 7 weeks. A low-mileage trainer to begin with (30 mpw average, often at 6:50 pace), Lutkenhaus took it very easy the week after USATF. Now he has eased back into his normal routine.
“What we’ve been doing has been working. This week we’re getting back into it. It’s more strength-based this week. Speed is obviously coming, you need speed in an 800, especially with who I’ll be racing in Tokyo.”
Says Capeau, “We took last week as low as we could go where we let him come down emotionally, physically, all of that.” Now things are back to normal. “With the consideration of, ‘Let’s see how our body does feel.’ It’s paying attention to the things we know we typically do well, we want to keep doing well. And the biggest thing is not to overshoot anything.”
Perhaps the most important element of preparation is how the young athlete is focusing his attitude about the big meet. His performance in Eugene indicates that he already has the right instincts. He says, “I think just getting out there and leaving it on the track. Hopefully advancing as far as I can, I think that’s the goal for everybody.
“But also, that first round is going to be a final. It doesn’t matter who’s in it. It doesn’t matter if I have the fastest time going in or the slowest time in my first race. I’m going to leave it all out there on the track. I’m going to represent Team USA as far as I can make it.”
Whatever happens in the Japanese capital, big questions will loom for Lutkenhaus and company. One of them has already been answered: “I’m totally off the hook for cross country. After Tokyo, I get a week or two with no running, just to finally take a break because I’ve been racing since January. It’s been a while.”
Another question: will we see him in other events? “Whenever somebody in the 800 runs so fast, in America, everyone wants to see them move up to the mile,” he says. “At the moment, that’s not the plan. When I ran 1:42, that really put me in the 800 group. I still have run the mile in 4:06, which is not nearly as impressive. And 46.30 in the open 400, which in my eyes is probably a little more impressive than the 4:06. But right now, the 800 is the event that I’ve been working towards.”
And the big questions: what can he do as a high schooler to top this season? Is going pro an option? Those talks haven’t happened yet. He philosophically says, “Nothing’s ever guaranteed, especially in this sport, and in life in general. Something could happen tomorrow.” (Subsequent to initial publication of this article, Lutkenhaus did turn pro and signed a Nike contract.)
He adds that he and his coach are proceeding on a “day-by-day” basis until the return from Japan. “We’ll focus on training and then we’ll talk about that point when that time comes.”
Just what makes Lutkenhaus so good? Capeau keeps going back to his family. “They’re willing to love him and let him stay light about the sport. They want him to enjoy the sport.”
It shows in his mindset. “He doesn’t make the bad or the good too high or too low. He loves celebration and loves being hyped up about it. But if it’s a bad day, he still loves it.”
