A St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) track-and-field athlete completed an impressive 2015-2016 season with a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title in the men’s 3,200-meter race, last Saturday, June 4.

Pilot junior Cooper Teare finished off his 2015-2016 school year with a state title in the 3200-meters after winning an individual Div. V title in cross country. Teare beat 30 other competitors on his way to win the 3200-meter race. However, obtaining the state championship was not easy for Teare. He finished with an overall time of 8:51.845, just two, one-thousands of a second faster than Cole Spencer of Great Oak who finished in second place.

Teare was in fourth place with 400 meters left behind Jack Van Scoter of Flintridge Prep, Callum Bolger of San Luis Obispo and Michael Vernau of Davis. Teare, through grit and determination, managed to move into second place with 180 meters left. He finally took the lead down the final stretch of the race. 

Teare won the title in the final 800 meters of the race. He ran from the 2,400-meter mark to the 2,800-meter mark in 1:04.961 seconds, his best 400-meter stretch until that point. His last 400-meter stretch was even more impressive at 56.757 seconds. Bolger ran the final 400 meters in 58.866 seconds, while Vernau ran it in 1:00.048 seconds. Spencer ran the final stretch in 55.9 seconds, but could not overtake Teare. 

The CIF final was conducted at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis.