In seventh grade, I moved to a new junior high where I knew absolutely nobody. It was two weeks into the year already, and while everyone had already started to settle in, I, again, would have to embrace my role as the "new kid" for the third time in four years. After meeting with a guidance counselor about my schedule, I would meet my first classmate at my new junior high school.

It would be Cooper Jansson. He would walk me to our end-of-the-day math class and help me out a lot when I got lost in the hallways. Cooper was a friendly guy who was pretty helpful to me, but I didn't think we would be particularly good friends since we mainly hung out with different groups of people.

Fast forward five years later, and we would graduate high school as training partners in track and cross country, running similar times, as well as very close friends. In my yearbook, Cooper said that I was one of the nicest and hardworking dudes that he had ever met and that I had helped him get to where he wanted to be as a runner. It was the only one that made me cry.

Throughout most of high school, Cooper wasn't too great of a runner. His junior year, he would barely break 5 minutes in the mile, running 4:57. But despite his times, Cooper trained his ass off every single day, doing everything our coach, Gregg Cantwell, told him to do and giving every workout more effort than the next person. Most of his friends did Cross Country, so throughout the process, he would go through all the necessary motions and serve as a beacon of humor for the rest of his team.

His senior year, things finally paid off. Cooper would break into our top 7 in Cross Country after not having done so his previous three years. He would run outstanding personal records of 9:52 in the 2 mile and 10:04 in the 3000-meter steeplechase, earning himself a spot as a walk on for the Elon University Cross Country team during his freshman year.

Cooper would trust the process, and be rewarded accordingly. Throughout his college career, he has faced a variety of different and far more severe challenges. But despite the obstacles, he still lives by the motto of trusting the process, no matter what.

Throughout college, however, he has dealt with a fair bit of adversity and freak misfortune that parallels few others. His second semester of freshman year, Cooper would wake up one morning to fall off his bed lofted six feet high. After visiting to the hospital the next morning, found out he had a stress fracture. He would have to go home for months to recover from his skull fracture and have to withdraw from school for a while.

"This was a tough injury, not as much on my running, but on my family and the psychological effects that it had," Cooper said. While I was home for winter break that year, he often joked that he couldn't do any math. "When I hit my head it was hard because I had to miss all of March and be back home. In early April I decided to go back to Elon and finish up two of my classes as I had to drop my other two as well as start training for the next year."

"This was a tough time for me because I was ineligible to practice with the team due to my course load and I had a lot of free time since I was only taking two classes."

This past year, he had a stress fracture in his femur while he was in the best shape of his life. With Elon's Cross Country team having its conference meet at home, this was especially difficult for Cooper.

One day, right before the conference meet, one of Cooper's teammates, Colton Lawson, would tell him that his injury was the most detrimental part of the season.

"Although I felt bad that I was injured and couldn't practice or race with the team, having a teammate tell you your importance to the team is one of the most meaningful things somebody has said to me," he said.

Currently, he's still trying to get back into shape while recovering from his stress reaction. His goals as a runner are to break 15 minutes in the 5k and be in the top 5 of his team in the next season. With a large incoming class of freshmen on his team next year, Cooper also wants to help his team improve for years to come.

I went on a couple runs with him this winter break, and one thing he said after a run was especially memorable. He had just run 6 miles at 7:10 mile pace, something he has done easily for the past couple of years, and was exhausted and completely winded. I thought that would be especially frustrating for him, and that all his struggles this whole time would be frustrating, but he said:

"You just have to trust the process. Things will work themselves out."

"Don't loft your bed six feet high," Cooper wants to tell his younger self.

He has adjusted throughout college and grown substantially, honing his strengths as a person while trying to improve his weaknesses.

"I would say to really cherish the moments you have because time really does go by faster and faster. I'm already down to my last XC season and it feels like my first in an Elon uniform was a month ago," he said. "The real memories are the ones you make on trips and being with your friends playing wiffle ball on the rec field. I would say to prioritize what you want out of college and go for it, and don't be afraid to be spontaneous."

As for who has helped Cooper through his hardships and guided him through his successes, he credited his parents, who have given him every chance to be successful. But he also made sure to credit our high school coach, Gregg Cantwell, who helped guide him to run at a division I collegiate level, something he never thought he would have done in high school.

Above all, he wanted to credit the friends who have been with him all the way.

"I would say my roommates, Jake, Kyle, and Miles, have always stood by me and have had an open ear as we have been together since the first day of freshman year of college. This past summer, being in California with them allowed me to grow as an individual and figure out more about myself than any semester at college could do."

"I would also say all my friends back home whether its the guys on my high school XC team or the core group that I've known since kindergarten. I've been lucky enough to be surrounded by wonderful people and friends whole life who I know will be there for me in the toughest times."

Cooper is a person who has trusted the process his whole life, and that has made him, at least in my perspective, someone integral to any group or organization he's a part of. He never gets too high on his successes nor too low on his shortcomings, and that has made him a steady presence and friend, regardless of the circumstances.