St. Joseph Notre Dame High School (SJND) alum Cooper Teare was a member of a four-person relay team that broke a 12-year National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record last weekend at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. 

Teare and the University of Oregon (UO) track-and-field team traveled across the country to compete in the three-day invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the University of Arkansas campus from Friday, Jan. 31, to Sunday, Feb. 2. 

Teare, a junior, competed in the 4,000-meter distance medley relay (DMR) competition with his teammates James West, Jacob Miller and Charlie Hunter. The quartet finished first in the seven-team field with a time of 9:24.52. The squad’s time set a new NCAA collegiate indoor record for a 4,000-meter DMR. The previous record was 9:25.97, set by University of Texas in 2008.

The DMR is a four-member race where each athlete runs a different length. The first athlete runs 1,200 meters, the second runs 400 meters, the third runs 800 meters and the anchor runs 1,600 meters. Teare was in the anchor position. He ran the final 1,600 meters of the race with a time of 3:55.45. He was the only athlete to complete the 1,600-meter portion in less than four minutes. University of Texas’ (UT) Jack Yearian had the second fastest fourth-stage time at 4:03.68. 

UT finished in second place with a time of 9:36.16. University of Arkansas finished third at 9:40.15. University of Florida came in fourth with a time of 9:44.97, while Stanford University rounded out the top five at 9:47.05. 

UO finished second in the overall team men’s competition at the invitational out of 16 teams. 

The group’s performance helped the Ducks move up the national college indoor track rankings. The Ducks jumped up to ninth place overall from 17. U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association also selected the quartet as national men’s athletes of the week.

Teare graduated from SJND in 2017.