Cooper Lutkenhaus wins second straight state 800-meter title

Student-athletes from all three NISD comprehensive high schools traveled to the UIL Track & Field State Championships last weekend with Northwest High School sophomore Cooper Lutkenhaus coming home as a repeat state champion.

Cooper ran a record-setting time of 1:47.04 on his way to victory in the 6A 800-meter run, just one year after winning the same race at the 5A level as a freshman. Not only did he break his own Texas state record, Cooper also broke the state-meet record for all classifications that was set by Olympian Jonathan Johnson in 2001.

In addition to prevailing in the 800, Cooper also qualified for the state meet in the 400-meter where he ran a personal best time of 46.30 on his way to a silver medal.

Eleven other NISD student-athletes qualified for the state meet last weekend at the Mike A. Myers Track & Soccer Stadium in Austin. 

Byron Nelson student-athletes narrowly missed out on the podium in two events. Skylar Brazzell finished fourth in the 6A 200-meter run, and she and her teammates (Jordyn Hudson, Madison Armstrong and Shayleigh Sanchez) also finished fourth in the 4x400-meter relay.