Northwest sophomore Cooper Lutkenhaus ran 1:45.45 and won the 800 at the 2025 Nike Outdoor Nationals June 21 in Eugene, Oregon. Lutkenhaus’ time allowed him to become the first high school runner to ever break 1:46, and is more than eight-tenths of a second faster than his 1:46.26 run to break the high school 800 outdoor national record at the 2035 Brooks PR Invitational June 8. MICAH MCCARTNEY | WCMESSENGER
The gold medal count continues to climb for Northwest sophomore Cooper Lutkenhaus. Less than two weeks after claiming the high school 800 outdoor national record, the second-year runner added another win and reset his own mark.
Lutkenhaus battled through inclement weather against a fast field of runners competing at the 2025 Nike Outdoor Nationals June 21 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, and ran away with the gold medal in 1:45.45 — trimming down his record time by more than eight-tenths of a second.
“It’s definitely been awesome these last few weeks,” Lutkenhaus said. “The conditions weren’t ideal to try to go after the record, but still being able to run faster really shows the hard work that’s been put in over the past few months with Coach [Chris] Capeau. He’s done a lot for me in this process of getting me to where I am right now. The support of my family, friends and coaches is also a big reason for me being where I am.”
The win allowed Lutkenhaus to continue his run of having never lost an 800 race. His time also elevated the young runner to a category all his own, becoming the first high school runner to ever break 1:46.
At the 400 mark, Lutkenhaus clocked 52.19 and sat in second place behind Bryson Nielsen (Mesa, Arizona). With about 300 to go, Lutkenhaus passed Nielsen, and outran runner-up Bodey Lutes (Marshfield, Oregon, 1:47.74) by more than 2 seconds.
Lutkenhaus knew he had a shot at breaking his own record throughout the race thanks to the pacing lights on the inside of the track.
“The pacing lights were set for the national record that I had previously set at Brooks [PR Invitational],” he said. “I knew where I was at with about 200 to go in the race. But the last 100, I just gave it all that I had. It wasn’t even about the time — it was just about winning that race against the star-studded field that we had. When I crossed the line, I knew I was in that 1:45 range, which was very exciting.”
With the top 6 turning in sub 1:50 times, the Texan said the level of talent in the field surpassed his previous Nike runs.
“That was definitely one of the best fields ever assembled at Nike,” Lutkenhaus said. “It surprised me that we had the times that we had because of how poor the conditions were. The whole field deserves credit. It was a mixed field of guys I’ve competed against before and a lot of guys I’ve never raced before that’ve been running good all year. All I could control was my race, but I think everyone had a fantastic race. It’s always fun to race against good competition.”
As a result of his record-resetting run, Lutkenhaus automatically qualified for the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships by turning in a time of 1:45.60 or faster. The USATF Outdoor Championships, scheduled for July 31 to August 3 at Hayward Stadium, serve as a trial for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, set for September 13-21 at Japan National Stadium in Tokyo.
“A big goal of mine was to see if I could get that [USATF] qualifying mark,” he said. “In my mind, if I could do that, that would show me I’ve had a great season. The plan is to go to USAs this year, and just see what I can do. The field’s going to include the best in the country — Josh Hoey, Bryce Hoppel, Brandon Miller — and multiple other guys who’ve had made Olympic and World Championship teams. I’m going to go out there and give it everything that I have.”
Lutkenhaus capped off his sophomore season at Northwest by claiming the gold medal and setting both a conference and state record in the 800 (1:47.04) last month at the 6A state championships at the University of Texas at Austin’s Mike A. Myers Stadium. He also won the 5A state title as a freshman in 1:49.84.
On June 8, he broke the national high school 800 outdoor record by winning gold at the Brooks PR Invitational in 1:46.26. He also claimed the high school indoor national title after finishing sixth in 1:46.86 at the 117th Millrose Games in New York City — breaking Hoey’s 2018 record time of 1:47.67.
After a summer filled with gold medal races, Lutkenhaus is looking forward to competing in his second 6A season in both cross country and track as a junior in the 2025-26 school year.
“I think next season’s already starting to shape up really well,” he said. “Our team has become a lot better this summer because of Coach Capeau. He’s been able to not just build me up, but also the other guys on the team, as well. We’ll definitely be a solid program going into cross country season in the fall, and then into track season in the spring.”
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