Champion Sprinter Tyrese Cooper Arrested 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The arrest of high school sprinter Tyrese Cooper, one of the best young 400-meter prospects in the U.S., has made headlines Tuesday morning. 

Cooper, an 18-year-old junior at Norland High, was booked Monday evening on four counts that appear to stem from an alleged burglary or theft of vehicles. The Miami New Times reports that he was stopped by police along with other individuals at the Miami International Airport rental car center. 

After his indoor track season ended with an injury in March, Cooper had recently returned to the track and had qualified for the FHSAA Track and Field Championships, which are set to begin Friday in Jacksonville. 

Cooper has been a talented and popular figure in high school track for the past three years. After a season of high school football last fall, he announced on social media recently that he had received a scholarship offer from Florida State to play football. 

Just 11 days ago, Cooper's Miami Gardens Xpress track coach, Darius Lawshea, was threatened at gunpoint at a track practice involving more than 100 children. It's unclear whether Cooper was there. 

Lawshea told the Miami New Times that his relationship with Cooper had changed recently. 

"I was like a dad," Lawshea told the newspaper on Tuesday. "But then he started battling me about being a dad and a coach. We were bumping heads, and he was being disrespectful, not coming home for curfew. He did it in front of my wife, and I had to ask him to leave. Then he fell in with the wrong people."

After running a season-best time of 45.38 seconds at the 2017 Great Southwest Classic, Cooper qualified for the U.S. U-20 national team and represented the country at the Pan Am U20 Championships in Peru last summer.