Cooper Lutkenhaus used an excellent finish to run a 1:50.80 PR
The Elite Boys 800m at the Texas Distance Festival shaped up to be quite the field. It had several entries where boys had run 1:51s and 1:52s including three who also had impressive 400m performances this year.
Christopher Harris (San Antonio Cornerstone Christian) entered with outstanding marks from this indoor season of 47.81 in the 400m and 1:53.60 in the 800m. Then Mason Page (Round Rock) had outdoor season bests of 47.35 and 1:53.67.
Page finished second this weekend with a new personal best 1:52.24 and Harris also added a new personal best of 1:52.30 as he placed third this weekend.
However, it was freshman Cooper Lutkenhaus (Justin Northwest) who entered with season bests of 48.25 and 1:53.99. The frosh laid down a fantastic final 200m to run to the TDF win with a time of 1:50.80. That time is just under a second off of the 1:49.87 Freshman National Record set by Brandon Miller (MO) in 2017.
Lutkenhaus entered into high school as a relative unknown as most freshmen do. At the same time, much of the middle distance community was previously aware of his exploits.
As an eighth grader, Lutkenhaus won two Nike Outdoor Nationals titles when he went 48.70 and 1:53.59 last June.
2024 TDF Boys Elite 800m Race
The Texas Distance Festival would be the first major track meet at the high school level for Lutkenhaus and the level of competition would be the best he's ever seen.
Northwest coach Burke Binning knew this would be just the challenging situation necessary for his young pupil. It's been a year, dating back to last year's TDF since he's had a competitive race. Binnig said, "I was excited for Cooper to have company during a race, it was important for him to get used to racing in traffic."
The beginning of the race looked like it might be the kind of typical lumps and difficult experience you'd expect from freshman in their first big race. It was also the racing traffic Binning wanted Lutkenhaus to see.
There were definitely race execution issues. Lutkenhaus admitted, "I made an error and mistake in the first 400m by letting them get away."
At 500m into the race, he found himself in fifth place and a good 10-meters behind the leader.
"I admit, I was a little worried he wasn't at the front during the first lap and even more concerned as the gap opened up at 500m," Binning said.
Previous big race experiences seemed to play a part as Lutkenhaus was able to display some patience and composure. That allowed him to eventually course correct things just in time. "Big races like Nike and Brooks helped me a lot confidence wise," on that second lap he said.
Boys 800 Meter Run Finals PLACE ATHLETE TEAM MARK 1 Cooper Lutkenhaus Justin Northwest 1:50.80 2 Mason Page Round Rock 1:52.24 3 Christopher Harris Cornerstone Christ. 1:52.30 4 Layne Sheely Prosper 1:52.35 5 Jack Musgrave Clear Lake High 1:52.74
That's when the youngster began to race like an upperclassman and veteran. Lutkenhaus used his 48.25 speed to throw in a backstretch surge.
He also settled the thoughts and feelings of his coach. "When he passed me with 200m to go, he looked so relaxed; there was no stress on his face and then he ripped the last 150-meters," Binning said.
The last 200-meters were strides of near-perfection.
Lutkenhaus began his kick and clearly looked to have the best speed endurance of any runner in the race. He closed the gap on the turn and then swung wide, into lane three coming off the final curve with Harris, Page, and Jack Musgrave (Clear Lake) right there.
There are always several reasons to run at the Texas Distance Festival. That was part of the motivation for Lutkenhaus. "Just knowing it would be a fast field and it was going to go out hard, I knew it was going to be something fun to do," he said.
"I'm so proud of him, he knows there are expectations and he embraces them. This experience was really important for his development and psyche as we approach the UIL state qualifying guantlet," Binning told us.
There was one more reason for Lutkenhaus to run well at TDF.
His big brother Andrew Lutkenhaus who now runs for the University of Tulsa was on spring break and in attendance to see his younger brother race.
Andrew held the school record prior to this weekend and was able to see Cooper make it his own.
"It was awesome having family members come down. I watched (Andrew) run for four years and he won an 800m race on this track. It meant a lot for me to do this with him here," Cooper said.
"I was there to watch him set the school record and for him to be there and watch me break it was a cool feeling to have."