BREAKING: Woodinville native Luke Houser no longer with Brooks Beasts...
In what is a bit of a surprising development, Seattle based Brooks Running announced that University of Washington alum Luke Houser (Paul Merca photo) is no longer a member of the Brooks Beasts and his sponsorship with the company has ended.
According to a short statement sent by a Brooks spokesperson Monday morning, “Luke Houser will not be a member of the Brooks Beasts for the 24-25 season and is no longer a Brooks-sponsored athlete.”
A reader sent along a link to a LetsRun.com thread over the weekend suggesting that Houser, who was a standout at Woodinville High School before going over to the University of Washington, where he won two straight NCAA indoor titles in the mile in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, was dropped by Brooks.
This comes after he was originally signed by Brooks before the start of the US Olympic Trials in June and added to the Beasts squad.
This is the second significant departure of an athlete on the Brooks Beasts squad, after Nia Akins left the team after the Olympics. His bio (left via brooksrunning.com) on the Brooks Beasts page was scrubbed.
It is unusual for an athlete to be dropped from a shoe deal shortly after being signed. It is possible that there are other factors involved, some of which are covered in non-disclosure agreements. We are attempting to reach out to various parties involved.
UPDATE (5:15 pm Tuesday): Brooks released another statement about Houser's release:
"Luke Houser was released due to a code of conduct violation with the team and will no longer be a member of the Brooks Beasts nor a Brooks-sponsored athlete."
In a follow-up, the Brooks spokesperson said that the company will have no further comment on this.
LetsRun.com's Jonathan Gault contacted Houser's agent, Ray Flynn. Flynn declined to say what the code of conduct violations were, and said that Luke was trying to figure out his plans moving forward.
This story is developing and may be updated.
NOTE: Brooks Running contributed to this report.
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