Natalie Cook - 15:25

The least that Letsrun could do is post the right person.....that picture on the front is not her.

I know! It's actually secret Russian agent Natalia Cook, Natalie's evil twin!

Natalie Cook's form can't get better unless a doctor gets involved. Her legs are slightly deformed. It's called knocked kneed.

Are you talking about the picture of the girl in the Oklahoma State uniform? Yes, that's Natalie Cook. It's the picture she herself posted a few months ago when she announced her decision to go to Oklahoma State.

Very impressive performance. Hope she can stay healthy and improve upon her strength in college. Her form looked a little better from XC.

If you put Mary Cain her senior year on the track in. 5k with or without the new spikes against this girl I would bet a ton of money that Cain would beat her. Cain ran a very controlled 15:45 to simply get a USA qualifier.

That being said this performance still validates the runninglane championships greatness yet again. A track will ALWAYS be faster than a xc course

Disagree. Compare photos of her in 2019 versus today. Going in the wrong direction.

Plenty of people lose weight and run faster, but it doesn't automatically mean that they have an eating disorder.

Weini Kelati was a little chunky in high school, but she has lost weight and runs faster now.

lol no wonder jenna hutchins never finished her hs running career and went to byu right away

some decide to dope in college post/post college to improve...some don't

thats basically what separates the crowd after high school

Well, just running less doesn't make you better. 99% of the time. She likely has immense talent and is racking up plenty of cv trying each week. She's a big outlier.

She should give Cains 2 mile record a shot 9:38. cain did it indoors

This was a great performance, however you slice it. 15:25 in high school. And, unlike many high school girl phenoms this was not a freshman. The form may be awkward--a little hard to tell with the braid flying around--but she's not doing this on 100 mpw as a frosh or soph. This is a senior--closer to adulthood, obviously--running this on 15-20 mpw+a lot of cross training. You have to wonder how good she could be on a BTC training program five or six years from now as a pro, if she can stay healthy.

Yeah, this is spot on. Watch her state meets in XC on TXMilesplit, she finally controlled her weight and figured out how to to be fit and lean. She used to be the most talented girl in the field but due to injuries her body just didn't hold up and she wasn't ready. She finally figured out how to be light and fast on 15-20 miles week and it has showed.

I think I need to add one more thing to my assessment. Cook turns 19 this coming May. She was 18 years, 11 months when she ran this race. That means that she is already the age of a typical college freshman. Essentially she is a 19 year old being credited with a high school distance record typical run by athletes who are 15-17. Hutchins for example was 16 when she set her record. This says nothing about Cook's long term potential. Very often on the women's side the top runners do not emerge until they are in their 20s or even after college, and 15:25 is a terrific time. But this is the equivalent of a college runner well into her freshman year running this time. This does make trying to compare her to other high school runners somewhat pointless.

nope

there is a difference between losing weight and looking unhealthy lean.

hope she hasn’t crossed that line for her sake - don’t won’t any stress fractures.