What motivated Wichita Northwest’s Cooper to become double state-champion sprinter

Walking out of Cessna Stadium last spring, Wichita Northwest sprinter Jalil Cooper wasn’t disappointed.

He had qualified for the Class 6A finals in the 100-meter dash but finished last — and missed the finals in the 200-meter dash altogether at the Kansas high school state track and field meet.

“Last year was a rough year,” Cooper said. “But I wasn’t so disappointed because I knew I could be better than that.”

True to his word, Cooper returned to the state meet for his senior year and did better. Much better.

Cooper swept the 6A titles in the 100 and 200 on May 25, etching his name in history as the latest state champion sprinter from Northwest and the first double-gold sprinter since Deron Thompson in 2014.

“What makes Jalil so special is he’s always willing to work and be out there,” said Steve Martin, who coached Cooper in football and track. “He’s not one to shy away from hard work. That’s being around his sisters and having a mom who was successful as well. It’s a running family.

“It’s fitting for him to end up as a double champion because Coop does all of the right things. He’s great in school. He’s great in the weight room. And he’s just a great kid.”

A turning point in Cooper’s senior year was the decision to continue playing football, a sport he was considering giving up in order to train full-time for track season.

Martin convinced him by assuring him his summer workouts with the football team would translate to the track. A 5-foot-8 cornerback, Cooper is slender but managed to add some weight to his frame through time in the weight room during football season.

“If you watch his races last year, Jalil struggled to finish races,” Martin said. “But his dedication in the weight room allowed him to put on some really good muscle and he was able to finish races this year. Even if he didn’t have the greatest start, he could still beat people, and that’s the difference from last year.”

Cooper was dominant once track season began in March, winning each of his races but one entering the postseason.

When the City League meet rolled around, Cooper’s unbeaten streak in the 100 came to a shocking end, as his time of 10.60 clocked in third behind the winning time of 10.50 by Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Jack Guthridge — who went on to win the Class 5A titles in the 200 and 400 and finish runner-up in the 100 — and the time of 10.59 of Southeast’s Dejuan Colbert, who went on to claim silver in the 6A 100 at state.

“Maybe the best thing to happen to Jalil was losing the City League 100,” Martin said. “I think that got him focused. He really hadn’t been challenged much before that, so getting knocked down and then resetting himself was good for him.”

Once again, Cooper took a long-term approach to the performance.

“I knew I could do better,” Cooper said. “Losses happen. It just made me work harder for the next race.”

Later that same meet, Cooper (21.78) edged Guthridge (21.91) and Colbert (21.93) to win the 200 title. He didn’t lose another race in the postseason.

After easily claiming regional titles in the 100 and 200, Cooper (10.40) topped Colbert (10.42) in a photo-finish for the 100 title at state and then ran away with the 200 title in a time of 21.61.

One year after exiting the state meet unsatisfied, Cooper savored the feeling of standing on top of the podium twice in his final high school meet. But true to form, he was already thinking about how he could improve, obsessing over the next way to shave a tenth of a second off his times.

“I still think my start is really iffy,” Cooper said. “I still got a lot to work on. I can definitely get better.”