By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Eugene — Cooper Teare’s second bid to make the U.S. Olympic Team has fallen short.
Teare, 24, a University of Oregon standout was on the cusp in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meter races at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. during the recent U.S. Olympic team trials.
Cooper is the son of Dave and Charlene Teare of Alameda, Calif. Dave is a former resident of Ortonville and a 1980 graduate of Brandon High School.
Teare had run the Olympic standard time in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meter races, which qualified him for the trials prior to the Paris Olympics in late July.
However, Cooper finished 10th in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:35.17 and 12th in the 5,000 meters at 13:42.50. The top three times in the race qualified for the Olympics.
Just four years ago, Teare finished less than one second short of making the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2020 games in Tokyo. On June 26, 2021 Teare, then a senior distance runner for the University of Oregon, was edged out by .095 of a second of making the U.S. Olympic team to compete in Toyko in the men’s 5,000 meters on the final day of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at his home school’s Hayward Field.
The U.S. Olympic team requires track and field athletes to run, throw or jump faster than the Olympic A standard time in their selected event. After that, athletes must finish in the top three at the US Trials comprising the top American male and female track and field stars.