I was a college freshman at 17. And my best friend as as well -- didn't turn 18 until late October of his frosh year.
Are we supposed to be impressed?
No, it was normal. The age cutoff was like November 1. If you were 19 and still in high school, it would be an embarrassment. But times have surely changed.
No, it was normal. The age cutoff was like November 1. If you were 19 and still in high school, it would be an embarrassment. But times have surely changed.
who cares? doesnt make what shes doing now any less exceptional considering shes faster than almost every collegiate athlete at 5K. now just a matter of time before the Tuohy stans jump on this soft ball pitch and pour in here and explain how her times are totally unimpressive compared to what Tuohy was running as a 15 year old. why do that? appreciate how amazing both these athletes are right now.
This. Since there is nothing that Natalie or anyone else can do about it is it necessary to keep having threads about her age? It's just a way to try and discredit her performances.
Natalie Cook is a phenomenal athlete at any age but why is a 19year old still in HS?
I turned 19 in October of my sophomore year in college. I didn’t know anyone in HS that was 19.
Is she newly 19 or has been for months. The reality is age matters at this point in a career although usually much more on the male side of the sport. 80% of my college teammates had Sept-Dec and were a year old for their grade. Think about the percentage of high schoolers who are Sept-Dec but are 18 when they graduate. Less than 10% I'm sure. Most people in the Sept-Oct birthday range turn 18 as college Freshman, not early into their senior year of high school. I know this has changed some with the popularity of Outliers. But it is crazy how much a few months of difference makes for a high school guy.
Is she newly 19 or has been for months. The reality is age matters at this point in a career although usually much more on the male side of the sport. 80% of my college teammates had Sept-Dec and were a year old for their grade. Think about the percentage of high schoolers who are Sept-Dec but are 18 when they graduate. Less than 10% I'm sure. Most people in the Sept-Oct birthday range turn 18 as college Freshman, not early into their senior year of high school. I know this has changed some with the popularity of Outliers. But it is crazy how much a few months of difference makes for a high school guy.
She turned 19 a few days ago, which is what prompted this discussion.
why are you Americans so obsessed with the age of HS kids? If they are eligible to compete in sports according to their state rules, than that is all that matters. Who cares if YOU or anyone else is older or younger. You people really are petty, it is no wonder your country is so screwed up.
"yeah but I was 19 in college so that means nobody else can be younger and still in high school"
Most people in the Sept-Oct birthday range turn 18 as college Freshman, not early into their senior year of high school.
I will be shocked if you can support this claim.
Per this link, it is much, much, much more common to have to be 5 by 9/1 in order to start kindergarten. So those students born Sep-Oct would turn 18 in 12th grade.
In Texas, everyone redshirts their kids in pre-K 4 to start kinder when they are a year older than they should be. It is done to give their kids a boost in athletics and college scholarships.
While I have no specific info on Cook, but her parents were Div I runners at TAMU. Her mom ran the US trials for 5k and 10k on the track. Her dad is her coach.
Cook's HS, Flower Mound, which is in the north Dallas burbs, is huge. The school has over 3,500 students. Parents who have kids in these huge districts know that there kid is going to have to be a near national quality athlete to be able to participate in varsity sports. And it is even worse in sports crazy Texas where parents spend five figures on elite teams, coaching and training to get kids spots on baseball, volleyball, etc. So, a red shirt for kindergarten is almost a pre-requisite if you want your kid to be in HS sports.
That might be true for other sports, but that makes zero sense in girls running.
Freshman girls are sometimes faster than they are as seniors, because once they hit puberty and their body changes they sometimes get slower.
Her parents both had a ton of natural runner talent, and they had every reason to believe that they passed on those genes to their daughter. They wouldn't have held Natalie Cook back just so she would be a year older when she was a high school senior.
The only reason that Natalie Cook is running so much faster this year than last year, is because they finally figured out that her key to success is running only a little, and doing a lot of cross training.
Haven’t nearly all girls hit puberty before high school?
I was not going to comment at all, but of course it is relevant when a college age runner is competing in high school and breaking high school records. That is not attacking or belittling. It is just a fact. High school records have an age component. That says nothing about future prospects. Who can say? There are any number of factors that will affect a female runner's progression, injury and overtraining most of all. But we cannot pretend that being 19 years old and a full year older than the typical high school senior has no bearing on setting or almost setting high school distance records or how we should compare those to other high school performances. Had she managed to break KT's 3200 outdoor record, the only headline would have been of Tuohy's record being broken and the three year age difference would be ignored or no one would even know about it. It came to light on this board accidentally, bc her mom was a pro runner and there were ancient threads about it. Anyway, I was baited in. Mission accomplished. Later.
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