Layne guides Abbey Cooper to fourth place finish at US Olympic Track Trials

EUGENE, Ore. (June 21, 2021) – For 22 years, track & field head coach Chris Layne has led Milligan athletes to unprecedented success at the NAIA level, and on Monday evening he added U.S. Olympic Team Trials finalist to his athletes' achievements.

Abbey (D'Agostino) Cooper, who has been coached by Layne for the last three years, finished fourth in the 5000m finals of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials with a time of 15:31.05, to narrowly miss out on a berth in the Tokyo Olympics.

Entering the 5k prelims on Friday evening, Cooper had not achieved the Olympic standard (15:10) that is required to compete in the 2020 Olympics.

With the forecast calling for scorching heat at track level in Monday's finals, Layne encouraged her to pursue the Olympic standard in the preliminary round. Cooper broke away from the pack and chased the qualifying mark solo for the final eight minutes of the race. She won the heat and burst across the finish line at 15:07.81, meeting the Olympic requirement and recording her fastest time in six years.

With a sub-15:10 time under her belt, Cooper needed a top-three finish in the 5k final on Monday evening to secure a spot on Team USA.

Cooper, a seven-time NCAA Division I champion at Dartmouth, competed in the 2016 Olympics and memorably earned the Fair Play award from The International Fair Play Committee.

In a preliminary heat of the 5000m in Rio 2016, Cooper and Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand collided and fell to the ground. Cooper helped Hamblin back to her feet and encouraged her to finish the race. Despite suffering a torn ACL, torn meniscus, and strained MCL, Cooper persevered through the final four-and-a-half laps to finish the race.

Cooper relocated from the Boston area to Boone, N.C. with her husband Jacob, the Director of Sports Psychology Services at Appalachian State in 2018. She then connected with Layne, who also trains Milligan Athletics Hall of Famer, four-time NAIA national champion, and fellow New Balance athlete Hannah Segrave.