David Cooper began running after an injury took him out of wrestling. He quickly converted his competitive spirit from the mats to the track. Running came naturally to him while he would cut weight in wrestling and after he had quick success during his junior year of high school, he wanted to see how far he could take running.

On his campus visit to Mount Union, his conversation with legendary coach John Homon and the atmosphere of campus had him hooked. Add in his experience from the Army and David was prepared to take on the college transition.

His first semester on campus was used to get him back in shape while training with some of the top guys in the country. His confidence spiked as he knew he could go to well every Tuesday with these guys. This resulted in his first OAC XC title as a freshman and he would ultimately not give up that title.

He suffered a major setback as a sophomore when he finished 169th at the national meet. At that point, he was a 2x OAC champ, 1x AA and felt prepared to be in the Top 10. He used the feeling of disappointment to fuel the rest of his career. After that meet, he would leave a national meet as either an All American or a National Champion.

When David hung up his spike, he left Mount Union as a 3x XC All American, 4x OAC XC Champ, and 7x National Champion with 4 other All American performances in track. He credits this success to the fear of losing. When he started to win National Titles, he knew he had a target on his back and was motivated to not give his title up.

Quotes

On the impact from his team:

“I always try to circle back to the team that I joined because I wouldn't be talking to you guys today if it wasn't for the team of freshmen that I came in with.”

On the Impact of training and racing:

And so for me, it was more or less just knowing that if you're doing the work [it’ll pay off]. We used to say this all the time, you're doing the work during the week and you're collecting your paycheck on the weekend.”

On Finishing 169th as a Sophomore:

“I remember thinking, like, hold on to this moment for training. Hold on to this moment as I go into future races because this is exactly why you train for these things to not happen.”

On his training Senior Year:

“If I came out of practice on a Tuesday and I didn't have crutches, then it wasn't a good practice.”

Advice for the Post Season:

“You have to go into these races with that chip on your shoulder, being convinced that nobody can beat you or be better than you on that particular day. You have four big races like that in a career right for nationals, it's all you get. So it's time to go out there and collect your paycheck.”

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