Northwest junior runner Cooper Lutkenhaus has signed a professional deal with Nike, according to Runner’s World. Lutkenhaus, a 2024 5A and 2025 6A state champion in the boys 800, ran an under-18 world best time of 1:42.27 at the USATF Championships August 3 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. MICAH MCCARTNEY | WCMESSENGER
Just three weeks after earning a spot on Team USA for the World Athletic Championships, 16-year-old Northwest junior Cooper Lutkenhaus is turning pro.
Runner’s World confirmed Monday that Lutkenhaus has signed a professional contract with Nike — becoming the company’s youngest track and field athlete (16 years, 8 months) to ink a deal with the brand.
George Lutkenhaus — Cooper’s father and Northwest ISD’s executive director of athletics — said competing as a professional athlete will allow his son to continue racing against top athletes from around the world.
“With [Cooper] still having two years of high school remaining, that kind of changed our thought process a little bit,” George said. “When you’re running the times that he’s running, you’re possibly missing the boat for two years. It’s not about the money — it’s all about the competition. We felt that in his best interest and for his own longterm development, this was the best way to go. He’ll race less, but compete in better races.”
Details of the contract were not known as of story publication.
By signing the deal, Lutkenhaus will forgo his remaining high school and collegiate eligibility.
According to the UIL’s Amateur Athlete Status guidance, high school athletes 16-year-old and younger cannot sign name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements with postsecondary institutions, individuals, corporate entities, collectives or organizations. Athletes 17 and older are permitted to sign NIL deals with colleges and universities only.
“[Foregoing his last two seasons] was a pretty tough decision,” George said. “Our lives have been built around the high school athletic scene. But at the same time, when you’re 4 seconds faster than any other high school runner in history and a full second faster than the NCAA record right now, it kind of makes sense. If you really want to improve, you can go that rough so that you can race in the races you need to be in.”
George said Lutkenhaus will continue to attend Northwest High School, where he will be trained by the Texans’ cross country and boys track coach Chris Capeau. Lutkenhaus also plans to attend college while competing at the professional level.
“I think it’s the right move for him because he can stay in high school and still train with his coach,” George said. “He’ll just be racing in a different uniform come race day — nothing changes with that.”
Lutkenhaus cemented his name amongst the best half-mile runners in the nation with a historic performance at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships Aug. 3 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Sitting in fifth with 100 meters left and trailing the front pack, Lutkenhaus blazed a trail to the finish line and passed four runners down the stretch — including Olympians Bryce Hoppell (1:42.49) and Brandon Mille (1:43.14) and American 800 indoor record holder Josh Hoey (1:43.06) — en route to running a personal best 1:42.27 to take silver, securing his spot on Team USA.
Lutkenhaus shaved more than 3 seconds off of his previous national high school record time of 1:45.45 at the 2025 Nike Outdoor Nationals June 21 at Hayward Field. He also set new under-18 world and under-20 American records, and is now the fourth-fastest American and fifth-fastest worldwide to run in the event.
Despite being the youngest runner qualifying for finals, Lutkenhaus — the 2025 Wise County Male Athlete of the Year — ran just .11 seconds behind former American 800 indoor record holder and 2019 world champion Donavan Brazier, who claimed the gold medal in 1:42.16.
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Lutkenhaus is scheduled to make his professional debut at the World Athletic Championships, scheduled for Sept. 13-21 in Tokyo, Japan.
In his second season at Northwest, Lutkenhaus claimed the gold medal and set both a conference and state record in the 800 (1:47.04) at the 6A state championships at the University of Texas at Austin’s Mike A. Myers Stadium in May. He also ran 46.30 to finish second in the 400 behind state champion Elijah Ferguson of Kady Mayde Creek (46.05).
On June 8, Lutkenhaus claimed the national high school 800 outdoor record by winning gold at the Brooks PR Invitational in 1:46.26 — snapping Michael Granville’s time of 1:46.45 set at the 1996 CIF California State Meet. He then shattered Hoey’s 2018 high school indoor national record (1:47.67) after finishing sixth in 1:46.86 at the 117th Millrose Games in New York City.
Lutkenhaus broke onto the running scene in his freshman season. He was the 5A state champion in the 800, clocking 1:49.84 to break the freshman national record set by Miller at the 2017 AAU Junior Summer Olympics (1:49.87).
This story may be updated.
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