Meet Chris Capeau, the Coach Who Guided Cooper Lutkenhaus to 800m History

Cooper Lutkenhaus’ 1:42.27 run for 2nd place at the USATF nationals in the 800m shocked the track and field world, and rightfully so, as it was the greatest track performance ever by an 16-year-old.

What made it even more remarkable was how he did it. Nationals were unusually late this year, in August, and Lutkenhaus battled through an injury scare that nearly ended his season. Yet he lined up against seasoned pros and ran with a mix of fearlessness and joy. His coach, Chris Capeau, says that staying mentally locked in while keeping the sport fun has been a key to Cooper’s success.

Last week, after Cooper’s historic run, we spoke to both Cooper and Capeau for our LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast. These conversations were previously available exclusively to Supporters Club members — if you’d like to join and get early access to interviews like this, click here.  This week, we are releasing them to the general public.

Coach Capeau has only been coaching at Northwest High School in Justin, Tex., for one year, where his boss, the athletic director, is Cooper’s dad, George Lutkenhaus. But it has been a magical season.

🎧 Listen to the Full Coach Capeau Interview

You can listen to our talk with Coach Capeau in the player below or here on your favorite podcast platform. Coach Capeau joins us at 67:31 and talks for roughly 47 minutes.

Coach Capeau

Who Is Chris Capeau?

Capeau competed for former American mile record holder Steve Scott at CSU San Marcos, qualifying for NAIA nationals in the 5K, 10K, marathon, and 4×800 after starting his college career at San Diego Mesa College, where he was conference runner-up in the 800 and placed in the 1500 and cross country.

He began his coaching career at the collegiate level, serving as an assistant women’s cross country coach at San Diego State University, and previously coaching at the University of Texas and CSU San Marcos.

The death of his father brought Capeau back home to Texas, where he started coaching in the high school ranks.

Highlights from Coach Capeau’s Talk

Had to watch from home

Cooper Lutkenhause (1:42.27) makes history with Donavan Brazier (Kevin Morris photo)

When Cooper made history, Capeau wasn’t trackside — his wife had just given birth to twin girls in June, so he was back in Texas.

I was screaming like a little girl,” he laughed, recalling watching Cooper storm home in 1:42.27 from his living room.

A first-year coaching partnership

While this was Capeau’s first full year with Cooper, the goals were already high: break Michael Granville’s 29-year-old high school record of 1:46.45 and run in the 1:44s.

We were aiming at 1:45, and that was kind of our idea throughout the year. We’re gonna try to go after 1:45 and set the high school national record. We were very clear on that. Now, again, we weren’t gonna rush it.

But as the season unfolded, workouts began to change his thinking. Cooper kept getting faster and faster:

 You just start seeing workouts and you’re like, I don’t understand. You’re just not getting tired and you’re runing faster. We’ve done this workout a month ago and now you’re doing it [again] and it’s like on a whole different level. And I’m like, What? So I remember this conversation. We’re all sitting there and I go, ‘Maybe we’re underestimating [what’s possible], right?’

Almost didn’t happen

While everyone underestimated what was possible, Cooper’s run at nationals almost didn’t happen. An injury scare nearly kept Lutkenhaus out of the US Championships. There was one workout where Capeau and Cooper’s dad had decided if it didn’t go well they would call it a season. But Cooper returned to his smooth running ways during the workout.

Keeping the joy in the journey

Cooper Lutkenhaus after making 1:42.27 at USAs 800m

Despite the success, the priority has been to keep things fun, something Cooper himself felt more strongly at nationals than on the high school circuit.

It’s easy to make this not fun… I’ve coached other kids where it’s not fun. I’ve seen amazing athletes where it’s not fun. Let’s go have fun.

One of the mantras for nationals? “Dude, giants get slayed all the time.”

Looking to Worlds and beyond

The plan through Worlds is simple: keep doing what’s worked. Cooper even took a red-eye back to Texas and went straight to his team’s cross country practice on Monday morning after the race.

We’re gonna do the same thing that we’ve been doing. We’re not gonna change it, right. Keep it simple, right? Like, it, it’s the aspect of we don’t need to do more. I’ve been around coaches where it’s like, now they qualify for something, and it’s like, well now we gotta [increase what we’re doing]. Nope.

“It’s an enjoyable thing to coach that kid”

While Cooper’s future could really change as NIL deals are not legal in the state of Texas for high schoolers and he has two years of high school eligibility remaining, for now it is still simple for him and Coach Capeau. Keep enjoying what they’re doing.

We have fun at practice…there’s a lot of high fives… it’s an enjoyable thing to coach that kid. It’s an enjoyable thing to be around his family, right? They’re the type of people that you want to be around. His mom’s the principal in our district, his dad is athletic director, right? They’re good people. They work hard.

🎧 Listen to the Full Coach Capeau Interview

His portion starts at 67:32. Or listen here on your favorite podcast platform.