It was a record that sat on senior political science and business administration double major Cole Cooper’s goal board all summer. He dreamt of breaking it every day while he trained. Finally, at the Oct. 14 Highlander Invitational meet, Cooper crossed the finish line and gained the honor of having the fastest 8k time in Chapman’s cross country history. The Highlander Invitational is a cross country event, which included 26 schools ranging from the NCAA Division 1 level all the way down to the junior college level.

The previous record, held by Cooper’s teammate and best friend Gil Bothwell, a senior majoring in business administration, sat at 25:25.3 and had been in place since last season. The new record now stands at 25:25.1, which is just two-tenths of a second quicker.

“Cross country is a grind, both mentally and physically, and we all know we need each other to dig deeper than we can alone,” Bothwell told The Panther. “We want to beat each other; but at the same time, we want the guy next to us to be at his best. I knew from the start that my record was under threat with the group we have this year. And as much as I wanted to break it myself, I’m glad it was Cole.”

Cooper, however, is not going to rest on his laurels when it comes to his recent achievement.

“It’s motivation, for me, in the next two races to drop it further if I can because I don’t want (my teammates) to catch me anytime soon,” Cooper said. “Two-tenths of a second is not a big enough gap for me.”

Even though cross country is an individual sport, Cooper wants people to know there is still a large team aspect to it. Chapman set a team 8k record, which is calculated by averaging the team’s individual times in the event, as well with an average time of 26:27, six seconds faster than their previous best. He believes that the team truly motivates one another to be their best selves on and off the course, and records such as this will only push him and his teammates to improve.

“This is definitely the fastest, most dedicated and even just the best team culture I’ve ever been a part of here at Chapman,” Cooper said. 

Cooper has certainly played a large part in making this cross country team a truly special unit.

“As a senior, having a leadership role, I can kind of help curate the culture and the team that we wanted to build,” Cooper said. “(The seniors) all tried to build something that we’ve wanted to see, that we didn’t get when we were underclassmen.”

Cooper also explained that in his freshman year, he didn’t have a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he wasn’t sure why he was even on the team. Running on his own, at times, felt like it was pointless. However, he continued to stick with the sport.

Cooper said that a large reason why he didn’t quit after his rough freshman year was because the team motivated each other to push through.

“The team aspect and the friends I’ve developed, and I knew that other kids were also in my shoes (was why he didn’t quit). None of us were satisfied with how we left it, because we all came out of high school feeling good about where we were in our careers,” Cooper said.

He elaborated by saying that COVID-19 made everybody take a step back, but his class of runners were bought into the fact that they would improve their skills together. The team knew that, by their senior year, the work would have been worth it. And now that he is a senior, it’s evident that Cooper made the right decision to stick with the sport.

“Every year, it’s just been progression,” Cooper told The Panther. “I feel like I’ve dropped a minute every single year, just by trying to get back to where I was in high school. It’s been good, it’s been difficult, but it’s been worth it.”

His rollercoaster sports journey is what truly makes this accomplishment even more impressive. It is a record that Cooper wanted for years, worked hard for and it finally paid off in the end.

“Watching Cole this season in his final year has made me so proud both as his teammate and close friend,” Bothwell said. “We came into Chapman together as roommates, and I have seen him grow in many ways, both on and off the field. It wasn’t always an easy road, but he was a man on a mission this past year and deserves all the success that has come his way.”

Cooper and the team will be hoping to piggyback on their success, going into their last two meets of the season. With the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships on the horizon, Chapman’s cross country team has never been in better hands to achieve their end of season goals.