By Gus Morris
Tyrese Cooper is no stranger to a big stage.
Last year, as a freshman, Cooper set national records in the 60, 100, 200 and 400 meters during the indoor season, then did the same in the 100, 200 and 400 during the outdoor season. This year, as a sophomore, he owns the fastest 200 and 400 times in the country.
Yet even with an already storied career, none of his prior experience prepared him for the crowd he raced in front of at the 2017 Prefontaine Classic.
“I was kind of scared in front of all of them,” Cooper said. “Walking down the backstretch to the start of the 200, I was nervous.”
Cooper’s nerves didn’t stop him from winning the high school boys 200, which he ran in 20.51 seconds, an improvement on his nationally leading 200 time.
Cooper was glad he improved on his time but was disappointed with the race in general because Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, who owns some of the fastest times high school times in the world and was slated as Cooper’s main competition at the Pre, dropped out before the race started.
Cooper doesn’t know why Sani Brown dropped out and wanted to race against him because he felt he could’ve had a chance at history.
“I really wanted to compete against him because I knew if I beat him, I would’ve beat Usain Bolt’s [world junior] record,” Cooper said.
Instead, he’ll have to settle with the fastest 200 time by a high schooler this year.
Cooper was followed closely across the line by Kalon Barnes, a junior from Silsbee High School in Texas, who finished in a personal record time of 20.54, the second-fastest time 200 time in the country this year.
“I’ve been in some big crowds but I’ve never been in a big ol’ crowd like this,” Barnes said. “Just a different atmosphere, in a different state and against other top-notch runners. It was a great experience.”
Barnes’ run on Saturday capped the best month of racing in his life. Earlier in May, he broke the Texas state record in the 100 that his father shared; it was set back in 1988. On Saturday, he broke his dad’s record in the 200.
“He had a 20.60,” Barnes said with a smile. “I’m really excited about beating that.”
The only thing Barnes was more excited about was the fact that he finished second. He owned the slowest time, 21.38, of any runner entered in the race.
But Barnes was the outlier in more ways than one.
With Sani Brown dropping out, Barnes became the lone runner who didn’t hail from Florida. Six of the seven runners attend high school in the Sunshine State, and five of them have posted top-12 times in the country.
“We’re just a different breed from the rest of the states,” Cooper, a Miami native, said. “Don’t matter how big you are, how fast you are, how strong you are, you’re gonna show out. It’s something about Florida runners.”
Barnes had never raced against Florida runners before Saturday. But he did his homework.
“They were showing me yesterday all the top times in Florida,” he said. “So, I told myself ‘I gotta bring it.’”
