COOPER LUTKENHAUS 1:45.45 IN THE RAIN

nice setup under the stands

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Crazy how many insane performances at the college and high school level started happening in 2021/2022. Wonder what happened? Maybe they all discovered the internet or started taking the sport seriously or started eating better. No real explanation comes to mind.

Wanyonyi and Arop are White?

there's the obvious shoes/bicarb etc stuff

But track and field enrollment is up across the board. Social media has been amazing for getting kids into running. There's a deep intrinsic part of being human that wants to know who's the fastest, the more people you add to the control, the better the result.

I thought he’d be able to run about this fast based on the 1:46 he ran against Owen Powell, but to actually see him do it is still insane.

as for why Granville’s record stood so long, don’t forget Cade Flatt ran like .02 slower in the heats of USAs (I think behind Brazier) letting up a lot before the end (saving energy for the finals he didn’t make). And Will Sumner ran a tiny bit off it the same year, then ran a negative split 1:44 as a freshman in college. Brazier ran 1:47 then 1:43 as a freshman in college iirc. Pretty sure Nick Symmonds wasn’t amazing in HS either despite running 1:42 eventually. In the 800 in particular, I think our best talents just didn’t get serious enough/train right for the 800 until college.

Not to say Brazier or Sumner’s coaches didn’t do a great job — with talents like them, the most important part is keeping them healthy (as evidenced by their respective pro careers). Just saying they didn’t get as much out of them as Ron Warhurst and Olympic Champ Nick Willis and VNTC got out of Kessler, hence why the 1500 record is so much better.

“In the rain”? So what?

For a long time, the top talent was going to the 400 or the mile, de-emphasizing the 800m. Now Lutkenhaus does look a lot more physically mature as a sophomore than many of the seniors in the same race, but he has quite a bit of upside still, because he probably will still be growing for one or two more years, he is still adding speed (dropping 400m time this year) and he is still not coming close to the aerobic development he can add. Plus, while he ran hard in this one compared to the Powell race last week, he will obviously go faster in ideal conditions in a 1:43 or better race drafting and chasing. I think he has the capacity to run break 1:44 this year because drafting would account for 3/4 of a second alone. His senior year, again against pros, I'd think that 1:42 is in the cards.

I was wondering how old he is.

My school has early kindergarten so when those kids get to high school they're one year older than the ones who didn't go to EK.

That's still an incredible accomplishment but there is a big difference between a "true" 10th grader and an 11th grader.

But this kid is still amazing and I hope he keeps improving. Where could he be when he's 21-23?

Next Jim Ryun. He's 16, birthday in December (December 19, 2008). So, he'll be 16 in junior xc, 17 in junior year track, 17 in senior year xc, 18 in senior year track and college frosh xc, if he still runs xc. He has through this year to set a U18 world record (Mo Aman 1:43.37 in 2011, doping positive recently, Burgin's 1:45.36 at 17y is the best of the lot outside Africa and the Middle East, where we have high prospects of age cheating and doping (400+ Kenyan bans in recent years) and 2027 to set a world junior record (U20 record is also by a doper, Nijel Amos, 1:41.73 in 2012 at 18y, Aman is second, Kitum third in his lifetime best at 17y, Brazier is 8th in the first clearly legitimate guy, in 1:43.55 at NCAA champs at age 19 (Burgin ran 1:44.14 the day before his 19th birthday)).

Not a surprise. He ran 48.7 in the 400 while in 8th grade, and he beat Alan Webb's sophomore 1-mile time this season. (I think Webb's record has since been broken, but at the time it was a national age-group record.) Speed to burn, endurance to burn. Put him in a race where he has somebody to chase, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack 1:45.

He's the Quincy Wilson of his event.

Easy enough to google ... Cooper is standard age for his grade, having turned 16 in December. Not the oldest, not the youngest.

(In contrast, Cade Flatt and Matt Boling were overage.)

Quincy Wilson in an Olympian.

Do me a favor.

A 16 year old kid faster than Roger Moans?

What would he have ran if it had been sunny? 1:44? Do me a favor.

The shoes haven't changed, but we know what has changed.

It's the same sport as the Paris 1500. Miracles never cease.

He indeed IS him

When you factor in the subpar conditions for this race and the fact that it was high school only, I'd argue this was probably worth 1:44-high which is absolutely insane to consider for a sophomore. It isn't totally beyond belief that he could be threatening Brazier's U20 American record before he's even graduated if he can stay healthy. Monumental talent.

To play devil's advocate here, in a theoretical world where the Olympics were this year and a 4x800m race was featured, I don't think it's inconceivable that Lutkenhaus could be in the relay pool.

Weird to say because Quincy is further along as far as nearing World Class…but I’m more bullish on Lutkenhaus. He’s pretty physically mature, but training-wise he’s still building and he is looking better race to race, season to season. For the 800 if you can add more endurance work while not reducing and/or increasing your 400 speed, you will progress. I think Cooper is our Wanyonyi. Not saying he’ll ever be a monster at road miles/1500s but the ceiling will keep rising and he’s always gonna have that last 50 to win races.

Bicarb, new track surfaces and shoes, new training and nutrition advice, and doping.