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Tyrese Cooper Chooses Oregon

Published by
DyeStat.com   Feb 6th 2019, 5:56pm
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Cooper Will Fly West, Signs With The Ducks

By Todd Grasley for DyeStat

Tyrese Cooper, who owns personal bests of 20.46 in the 200 meters dash and 45.23 in the 400, announced Wednesday that he will continue his track and field career at the University of Oregon.

“The recruiting process was very fun for me,” Cooper said. “I love meeting new people and traveling.”

Cooper, a senior at Miami Norland, chose the Ducks over Texas and Ohio State. Coach Darius Lawshea added that the school offered his pupil more than just success on the track.

“All three schools he was interested in showed me that the classroom will be very important to his growth and I really love that,” he said. “Oregon has always been his dream school, though.”

In 2018, Cooper endured a highly publicized arrest, but charges were dropped and he notes that those troubles are behind him. He said he is focused on the characteristics that it takes to be a role model to the younger kids in the Miami Gardens XPress (MGX) program and those that look up to him around the country.

“I was just immature about my decision-making and hanging around the wrong crowd,” Cooper claimed. “I know now that I have to move different and be around more positive people. I just thank God that I have the opportunity to go to college and make my family proud.”

Cooper is the first person in his family to go to college, which means a lot to them. He also made a promise to Lawshea’s wife, “Coach Jo, that he would go to college and be the person he can be. 

First Impressions & Fast Forward  

Lawshea’s first recollection of Cooper was back in 2012 when he was a defensive end on the coachs U-12 football team. He thought to himself, The youngster was getting to the quarterback really fast, and the rest is history.

“He has grown a lot as a track runner,” Lawshea said. He came to me the next year as a 13-year old and said he wants to be faster. He asked me if he could try out for our track team.”

The MGX relay teams would go onto break numerous AAU national records and Cooper's legacy was born. As a seventh and eighth grader, he swept the sprints at the FLYRA Middle School State Championship, bringing home gold in the 100, 200 and 400.

Indoors, he holds three national freshman class records and four national sophomore class records. Outdoors, he owns two national freshman class records and one sophomore record, seven outdoor AAU records, and three age-group world records.

Cooper will go down as one of the fastest high school sprinters of all-time. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, he won state titles in the 200 meters and 400 meters, as well as four outdoor national titles and a pair of indoor national titles.

He competed for the U.S. in the Pan-American U-20 Championships in Peru in the summer of 2017 and earned a silver medal in the 200 meters.

He raced distances from 100 meters to 800 meters last year. He even posted one of the best 300-meter hurdle times in the nation in his first attempt at the event.

“He will definitely focus on and master the 200 and 400 in college,” Lawshea said. “He absolutely loves the 400, but he likes the excitement the 200 brings.”

Cooper competed in the 300 meters at the Virginia Showcase in January, but this year the early focus will be on getting his grades up and excelling in the classroom, so the college transition will be easy.

Lawshea said he has been putting Coooper through physical fitness training designed to put him in the best shape possible for the outdoor season.  

“The goals for 2019 are to win, Lawshea said. “He loves to compete and (create) the excitement that track and field brings. He does want to run a faster 100 this year, so weve been really targeting his block work and starts.”

The future Duck calls the 2016 AAU Junior Olympics the best meet of his career so far. Cooper ran 10.36, 20.66 and 45.23 and still felt like he had more in the tank. It’s moments like that he wants to get back to in 2019.

“I want to stay healthy this year, practice like I did in 2015 and 2016 and listen to my coach, Cooper said. When all is said and done with my high school career, I want people to say that Tyrese Cooper was one of the greatest and most versatile runners ever.”

Cooper is also listed by 3-star football recruit by Rivals. He remains open to the possibility of playing football in college, but he is not part of Oregon's football recruiting class, which is ranked seventh nationally by 247Sports and Rivals.



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