Abbey Cooper (née D'Agostino; born May 25, 1992) is an American middle- and long-distance runner.[2][3] Cooper is the most decorated Ivy League athlete in track and field and cross country running. She is the first Dartmouth female distance runner to win an NCAA title.[4][5] She won a total of seven NCAA titles (1 – cross country; 4 – indoor track; 2 – outdoor track) in her career. In 2014, she became a professional runner for New Balance.
At 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. 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. Both athletes were praised for their sportsmanship and "Olympic spirit",[6] and were subsequently awarded the Rio 2016 Fair Play Award by the International Fair Play Committee.[7][8]
She is a devout Christian.[10][11] She married Jacob Cooper in July 2018, who played football in college at Taylor University and now works as the clinical sport psychologist at Appalachian State University.[12] The couple had their first child, a daughter, in January of 2023.
Dartmouth
In 2013 Cooper became the first Ivy League athlete, male or female, to win an NCAA Cross Country National Championship.[13] 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;[14] She won the NCAA cross country title by outdistancing[15]Emma Bates by a few seconds. She is the first Ivy League athlete to win 7 individual NCAA Championships.[16] She is also the only woman ever to have won both the 3000 meters and 5000 metersNCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships twice in a career which she did in 2013 as a junior and again in 2014 as a senior.[13] 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.[13] She won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female collegiate cross country runner in 2014.[17][18]
Cooper earned her final Ivy league titles May 2014.[19] She graduated with a degree in psychology in 2014.[15][20]
Year
Ivy League cross country
NCAA Cross Country
Ivy League Indoor
NCAA Indoor
Ivy League Outdoor
NCAA Outdoor
2010–11
–
–
3000 7th
–
5000 1st
5000 3rd
2011–12
1st XC
3rd XC
Mile 1st; 5000 2nd
DMR 3rd; 3000 8th
4x800 2nd; 3000 1st; 1500 1st
5000 1st
2012–13
–
2nd XC
4x880 yards 3rd; 5000 1st; Mile 1st
5000 1st; 3000 1st
4x800 3rd; 3000 1st; 1500 1st
5000 1st
2013–14
1st XC
1st XC
5000 1st; 4x800 1st; Mile 1st
DMR 8th; 3000 1st; 5000 1st
3000 1st; 5000 1st; 10000 1st
5000 3rd
Professional
2012
Cooper'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).[21] In 2012, at 20 years of age her platform as a star in the NCAA created a national following.[22]
2014
After graduating from Dartmouth in 2014, Cooper earned a sponsorship with New Balance based in Boston, Massachusetts. Abbey was coached by her college coach Mark Coogan under whom she was a 7-time NCAA champion from 2014 to 2018.[23]
Cooper is ranked 19th[4] in the world in the 5000 meters[24] and 65th[4] in the 10,000 meters in 2014.[25]
Cooper debuted as a New Balance athlete in October 2014 in the 24th Mayor's Cup presented by the Boston Athletic Association[26] placing fourth behind winner Rachel Hannah of Canada and the Boston Athletic Association's Juliet Bottorff and Jen Rhines.
On August 16, with about 2000 meters to go in a qualifying heat for the women's 5000 meter race at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Cooper tripped over Nikki Hamblin who had fallen in front of her.[37]
Instead of immediately continuing the race, she first helped Hamblin up, encouraging her not to quit.[38]
Cooper herself, however, had torn her ACL and meniscus.[39]
Despite her obvious pain, she nevertheless finished the race, after which she and Hamblin embraced. Cooper, Hamblin and Jennifer Wenth were advanced to the final because of the incident, but Cooper wasn't able to compete because of her injuries.[40]
On November 4, Cooper competed in her road debut at US 5 km road championship hosted by New York Road Runners Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5 km where she finished 7th in a time of 16:00.[44]
2018
Cooper left Mark Coogan and Boston after getting married in July 2018. She began being coached by Chris Layne in Asheville, North Carolina. Cooper won 5 km at 2018 Johnson City Turkey Trot in 16:58.[45][46]
2019
June 1, 2019 marked Cooper's first return to the track following the Rio Olympics. Cooper competed at the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 5000 meters race where she finished 14th.[47]
2021
In a stand out solo effort in the first heat of the 5000m meters at the 2020 United States Olympic Trials (track and field), Cooper met the Olympic standard with a time of 15:07.80.[48] Cooper finished in 4th place in the final three days later on June 21.[49]
Cooper achieved a new personal best of 14:52.37 in the 5000m at the Prefontaine Classic on August 20, 2021.[50]
