Cooper Teare & The Record-Breaking Oregon DMR Team Discuss Their 2021 Plans: “This Will Be One of Those All-Time Great Oregon Teams”

By Jonathan Gault
February 6, 2021

The 2021 Oregon Ducks distance squad does not lack for confidence. They know, with the talent assembled, that they have a chance to go down as one of the great groups in the program’s storied history. But even they did not expect the 2021 season to begin the way it did, with the quartet of Cole Hocker (2:49.89), Luis Peralta (47.29), Charlie Hunter (1:47.65), and Cooper Teare (3:54.61) ripping a 9:19.42 in the distance medley relay at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. The time took more than five seconds off the collegiate record (set by Oregon last year) and ranks as the fastest indoor DMR ever run.

“Going in, I don’t think any of us had the expectation of setting any world records,” Hunter says.

The group really didn’t know what to expect. This was just the second time any of them had raced in the past 11 months (Hocker, Hunter, and Teare all ran an outdoor 5,000 at the Sound Running Track Meet in California in December). One thing they did know: they were very, very excited to be racing again.

“We were going to the track the morning of to do a couple strides and get our pre-race in, and the energy at 7:30 in the morning in Arkansas on a gloomy day was far higher than it should have been,” Teare says with a smile.

The 2021 season is a challenging one for a collegiate coach, with two potential targets at which to aim: the NCAA Indoor Championships from March 11-13 and the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15. As recently as five weeks ago, Oregon distance coach Ben Thomas had his group preparing for cross country. Which, he says, made his team’s scorching DMR all the more impressive.

Courtesy Oregon TF

“I’ve had a lot of athletes do well over the years and win championships and do some things I was pretty impressed with, but this probably is up there just in terms of that whole 11-month grind,” Thomas says. “The way these guys have stuck with it and kept their edge, it’s been really special.”

In particular, Thomas praised Hocker’s opening split. As a Foot Locker champion in high school and a 13:32 5k guy on the track, Hocker’s distance chops were not in doubt. But Thomas says Hocker’s 1200-meter split showed he has reached a new level as a middle-distance athlete as well. Hocker’s time of 2:49.89 accounted for the majority of the record margin (James West split 2:53.53 as leadoff leg last year).

“The first split was probably the most extraordinary split of all,” Thomas says. “Because we knew Cooper had run 3:55 already, we knew Charlie was capable of that. But a 2:49? I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a collegiate DMR with a 2:49 leadoff.”

The big question now for the Ducks: which target to shoot at? Teare, who ran 13:17 at the Track Meet in December, would be an individual title contender if he ran at NCAA XC, with Hocker a top-10 threat. Jackson Mestler (7:57/13:36) gives Oregon a solid #3, but the team lacks the depth to challenge XC powers NAU and BYU for the national title.

Indoors, Oregon’s Micah Williams leads the NCAA in the 60, Emmanuel Ihemeje is #2 in the triple jump, and between Hunter, Teare, Hocker, and Reed Brown, the Ducks have the top two athletes in both the mile and the 3k, plus the #1 DMR. The Ducks have a realistic shot at claiming their first indoor title (indeed, their first national title on any surface) since 2016. Should some of the top contenders skip NCAA indoors to focus on cross country, Oregon’s distance dominance would become even more pronounced.

Teare was 6th at NCAA XC in 2019 but may not have an opportunity to improve his finish in 2021 (Ben Jones photo)

Thomas says the goal for now is to maintain “maximum flexibility” and keep the door open for both options. Since the calendar turned to January, he’s utilized a hybrid approach in practice, mixing track and cross country training.

“By March 5 (the date of the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships), we have until then to decide what’s happening with indoor and what’s happening with cross,” Thomas says.

It seems increasingly clear, however, that the Ducks will be pushing all of their chips into the indoor track pot. Oregon hosted its cross country season opener Friday, but its big guns — Teare and Hocker — did not compete.

“For now, I think the plan is to just focus on indoors, have a couple guys do pretty big doubles and just try to score as many points there as we can,” Teare says. “If it makes sense and there’s an opportunity to do cross, we might do it.”

How does this Ducks distance squad stack up?

As with any great performance, Oregon’s killer DMR run last weekend sparked discussion on the LetsRun.com messagboard. The most interesting topic: how does the 2021 middle-distance group stack up to the great Oregon squads of the past?

MB: U of O Men: Rivaling their best Mid-D team Ever??

The 2021 team is, unquestionably, loaded, with six sub-4:00 milers and a seventh at 4:00.

The one thing none of those guys have (yet), however is an NCAA title — in part because the 2020 NCAA champs were cancelled and the 2021 champs have yet to take place. So it’s too early to make a true comparison between the ’21 team and its predecessors.

But when has that stopped us before? Just for fun, here’s the 2010 team. This group scored 31 points at NCAA Indoors and 35 at NCAA Outdoors. Its most notable achievement was the unprecedented 1-2-3 sweep of the NCAA 1500 by Andrew Wheating, A.J. Acosta, and Matthew Centrowitz. (The 2009 squad, led by Wheating and Galen Rupp, was also stacked, though not quite as deep as the ’10 team).

PBs are up to and including the 2010 summer track season

And here’s the 2015 team, whose greatest achievements included scoring a ridiculous 70 points at NCAA Indoors (they tallied 47 outdoors) and putting three guys in the USA 1500 final.

Can the 2021 squad surpass either of those groups? It will be challenging. The 2010 and 2015 team each had transcendent superstars who won multiple individual titles (Wheating in 2010, Cheserek in 2015). The 2021 doesn’t have one of those yet. And even if the 2021 team can come close to the ’15 team’s insane 70-point haul at NCAA Indoors, the comparison will come with an asterisk if schools like NAU or Iowa State hold their best guys out of the meet to focus on NCAA XC.

What is clear is that this Oregon team is special. Back in 2017, when Teare, who ran 8:41 for 3200 in HS, was a freshman, then-coach Andy Powell told him he believed he would one day break the legendary school record in the 5,000: Bill McChesney‘s 13:14.80, set way back in 1982. Now Teare, whose 13:17.13 ranks him #2, sees the same kind of talent in Hocker, who has run 7:46 and 13:32 at the age of 19.

“Cole Hocker is my favorite person to talk about, ever,” Teare says. “He’s the future of American running. He’s insane.”

Over the next four months, Teare, Hocker, and the rest of the squad will hope to back up their gaudy PBs with national titles — and join the ranks of the all-time greats at one of the country’s premier distance programs.

“This will be one of those all-time great Oregon teams,” Teare says. “There’s too much depth not to be. Cole Hocker, he’s not even close to his ceiling yet and he’s running top times in the NCAA. Charlie is running Australian records. The fact that Reed Brown is getting left off the DMR A team running 3:56 and still running 2:52 the night before, I think it’s just a testament to the depth we have. Once we get to outdoor and we have guys like James West, Jackson Mestler competing back for us also, why not be one of the greatest all-time Oregon teams?”

How does the 2021 Oregon team stack up against its predecessors? Discuss on the LetsRun messageboard:
MB: U of O Men: Rivaling their best Mid-D team Ever??

From the LRC archives

2015 NCAA Indoors (Oregon 1-2-3 in 3k) LRC Eric Jenkins Takes Down Edward Cheserek For NCAA Title #2 – Or Did Cheserek Let Him Win?
MB: That was F***ing awesome – Oregon Civil War – Jenkins FTW!! Edward Cheserek is human!! (Wait: Ches says he let Jenkins win!)

2010 NCAA Outdoors LRC NCAA Final Day Recap – Aggies Grab Team Titles, Oregon 1, 2, 3 In Men’s 1,500