Alumni in Action: catching up with Eagle Valley school-record holder Cooper Filmore

When he’s racing a 5k, Cooper Filmore is hard to keep up with. Thankfully, the Eagle Valley alumnus was just a spectator at the Devils home track invite on April 5. The 2024 graduate and altitude school-record holder in the 3200-meters was on hand as his younger brother, Jackson, was honored along with the rest of Eagle Valley’s seniors.

“It’s kind of weird,” answered Cooper Filmore, now a freshman at Fort Lewis College, when asked about what it looks like to watch high schoolers compete now that he’s spiked up alongside some of the best NCAA DII distance runners in the country. “It’s really cool watching people on the team race, but it’s so much different than running in college.”

Filmore redshirted his cross-country season this fall but ran unattached at several meets. He opened the year running 26 minutes, 48.0 seconds for the 8k at the Joe Vigil Invite in Alamosa, a meet named after the legendary coach credited with building the Adams State University dynasty. Home to 61 team and more than 220 individual national titles between men’s and women’s cross-country and track and field, the Grizzlies’ current star is Romain Legendre, who established new NCAA DII records in the indoor 3000-meters (7:36.28) and 5000-meter (13:02.08) runs this season.

Filmore said the entire Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference has been talking about the French-born athlete’s times, which highlight the required performance leap prep stars must make if they want to be relevant at the next level. After all, Filmore was a school-recorder holder and multi-time state performer who ran 15:13.2 over 5K as a senior — at the time, only 3 seconds off Eagle Valley’s program best. He admitted there’s been some athletic growing pains this season.

“I didn’t run what I wanted to,” he said of his cross-country campaign. “The mileage increase getting into college was pretty rough. But I love Durango, I love the team, it’s been really fun running and hanging out in Durango.”

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Filmore said he’s touched base with other Eagle Valley alumni like Boise State University’s Jake Drever and Gage Nielsen, who runs at DIII power North Central.

“They say the same thing,” Filmore stated. “The first year is just really tough on the body.”

An environmental biology major, Filmore is roommates with former Devils’ middle-distance star Armando Fuentes — who has run 1:55.28 for 800 meters this year. Filmore regularly logged 70 miles a week going into the start of his indoor track season. In January, he ran 9:24.32 at 7,500 feet in his 3,000-meters debut. A week later, he posted a 4:33.26 for the mile at the New Mexico Team Open before lowering his 3k time to 8:52.82 at the Don Kirby Elite Invite in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Feb. 14. A few days before coming back to Gypsum, he ran 15:25.20 in his first outdoor 5k at the Maverick Invitational in Grand Junction. Ever the competitor, Filmore isn’t fully satisfied with those times but knows he’s playing the long game.

“I just really need to focus on (how) the running I’m doing now will make me better in the future,” he said. “And it’s kind of tough for me to see that sometimes but that’s what I’ve been trying to focus on — being patient.”

After watching a few more races and hanging out with his old teammates for a bit, the Fort Lewis freshman swapped out street clothes for half tights to get in his own run. At the end, he chatted with current Eagle Valley junior Dylan Blair, who set the new sea-level 3200-meter school record (9:03.22) at Nike Indoor Nationals on March 14 in New York City.

“I called him and was texting him after that. I was so stoked for him to run that,” said Filmore, who still holds the altitude mark (9:28.29) set at the state final last May. “I’m hoping they break my stuff.”

Other alumni in action

• Former three-time state champion Battle Mountain runner Will Brunner made his outdoor 5,000-meter run debut at the Raleigh Relays last month. The Harvard freshman clocked a 14:22.13. Brunner also competed at the NCAA DI cross-country national meet and finished 14th in the 1000-meter run (2:29.75) for the Crimson at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 1.
• After finishing fourth in the weight throw at the RMAC Indoor Track and Field championships, Battle Mountain alumna Augustine Hancock has started her outdoor season with a pair of victories. Hancock placed first in the hammer throw at the Chuck Haering Classic at the end of March and also won the Maverick Invitational on April 3-4. The Colorado Mesa junior is currently ranked eighth in the RMAC in the shot put, and third in both the hammer throw and the discus.
• Vail cyclist Bayli McSpadden continued her winning ways at the U.S. Pro Cup in Fayetteville, Arkansas last month. McSpadden, who won her first UCI race at the Orange Seal Pro Cup on March 8, claimed victories in the U23 category on March 19 and in the cross-country race the following day. She also placed 11th out of 33 riders in the elite short track event on March 21 and was fourth in the U23 cross-country race on March 22.