In 2012, at 20 years of age her platform as a star in the NCAA created a national following. YearĬooper's 5th place at 2012 Olympic Trials 5000 meters and nearly clinching a spot on the Olympic team is one of the closest finishes in Olympic Trials distance races (less than 0.19 seconds between 3–4–5). She graduated with a degree in psychology in 2014. Ĭooper earned her final Ivy league titles May 2014. She won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female collegiate cross country runner in 2014.

Cooper broke Ryan Pandolfini’s (née Fagan) long-standing 10K record by over a minute in 2014, and is the current Dartmouth record holder in the 3K, 5K, and 10K. She is also the only woman ever to have won both the 3000 meters and 5000 meters NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships twice in a career which she did in 2013 as a junior and again in 2014 as a senior. She is the first Ivy League athlete to win 7 individual NCAA Championships. After winning her 2013 NCAA Cross Country title and 5th NCAA title in her career, she praised coach Mark Coogan for the preparation for championship running and close finishes She won the NCAA cross country title by outdistancing Emma Bates by a few seconds.

In 2013 Cooper became the first Ivy League athlete, male or female, to win an NCAA Cross Country National Championship. She married Jacob Cooper in July 2018, who works as the clinical sport psychologist at Appalachian State University Dartmouth She has two younger sisters, Lily and Julia. Her mother Donna competed for the UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2014. Personal life Ĭooper attended Masconomet Regional High School in Boxford, Massachusetts. Both athletes were praised for their sportsmanship and 'Olympic spirit', and were subsequently awarded the Rio 2016 Fair Play Award by the International Fair Play Committee. The two women helped each other finish the race and were allowed to compete in the final however, Cooper had suffered a torn anterior crucial ligament and meniscus and wasn't able to participate further. In 2014, she became a professional runner for New Balance.Īt the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she received considerable international media attention following an incident during a 5000m heat in which both she and New Zealander Nikki Hamblin fell. She won a total of seven NCAA titles (1 – cross country 4 – indoor track 2 – outdoor track) in her career. She is the first Dartmouth female distance runner to win an NCAA title.

Cooper is the most decorated Ivy League athlete in track and field and cross country running.

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