Sprint phenom Tyrese Cooper owns nationally ranked times and even class national records in distances ranging from 60m to 600m. Although he says he raced longer distances in his youth days for MGX, Cooper opted for the 800m to kick off his 2018 outdoor track and field season. After the VA Showcase he mentioned he could run 1:48-1:49, but Friday he had a battle on his hands with Piper's Sukeil Foucha. Foucha edged out Cooper by one one-hundredth of a second 1:57.92 to 1:57.93 to win heat four of the prelims at the Louie Bing Classic.
Cooper hasn't been shy about how much he hates losing. His time is the third fastest heading into the finals behind only Foucha and Tyree Simeon of Northeast High School who ran 1:55.02. He follow up his 800m performance by competing in perhaps his best event, the 400m where he did all he needed to qualify, cruising to a time of 48.02.