Why is Natalie Cook 19years old?

I am not following. You want 5 age groups atHS meets? That woukd take 5 times as long. And if we use that method, Cook isn't too old because she is born the same year as every high schooler who turned 18 last fall so you are way off base there.

Your swimming example is off because HS swim uses HS rules. Every club sport has age groups while HS only has some type of upper limit which varies by state.

Which usually means her parents decided to start her a year later- not that she failed.

Also, in my district (and in most around us) they have Early Kindergarten. Instead of Kindergarten some kids (parents choice or they're "tested") many kids go the EK to get an extra year of development and learning.

My school has many seniors who turn 19.

I used to think people were being rude but I really don't think they know what the normal cutoff is. There are always a bunch of posters claiming that they know a bunch of kids who turn 18 in college when the reality is that encompasses about 1% of the population. Cook is old for her grade. That is a fact but it is not important especially in the case of girls. Her records count. If people don't like it, they should hold their kids back. The rules exist and we can all look them up.

She is 22 seconds behind the record of Mutungi (15:03.34) so I'm not holding my breath.

Zola Budd 14:48 at age 19

There were a number of 19-year-olds in my graduating class. Maybe it's a Texas thing. My high school girlfriend was a grade below me but older. For some reason her parents started her and all of her many siblings late. They all turned out to be super high performers academically, so maybe there's a logic behind it.

I was on the wrong list sorry, the official U20 all time at WA has Dibaba 14:30.88 and no USA in the top 100.

I was held back and turned 19 the summer before my freshman year of college. But that was almost 10 years ago. The real question is why are you guys still surprised anytime there's a 19 year old high schooler. She's not the first and it doesn't eliminate her from record books. And for a girl that's probably a better sign for longevity

I cannot believe this gets brought up so much around here and how out of touch everyone is with how the school system works. Most states you can start kindergarten if you are 5 by September 1st but must start school if you are 6. If you kid has a August, July, June or even May birthday you need to decide if your kid is going to be the youngest in the class or wait and they'll be the oldest in the class. Its really not that hard of a decision if you want your kid to have every possible chance to excel in class. I know everyone obsesses over the sport aspect of it all but its more important education wise. You want your kid behind and struggling to learn everything or ahead and has confidence in what theyre being taught?

cause Texas

Yes, and that date (September 1) has moved around a lot in the past, or maybe it varies by state. In my school, it was October 31. My birthday is the end of August. So with post-Labor Day school start, I went to kindergarten at 4, graduated at 17, was in college at 17 for about 1 week before turning 18. Best friend was born October 15, followed the same trajectory. We both graduated from college at 21, then turned 22 some months later.

Hardly anyone in my high school class was 19, except for one kid who was held back a year in middle school. Back then, it was sort of embarrassing and parents did everything they could to keep their kids in the same class as those the started with..

It's clear that this is shifting considerably and now what it means to be in high school could easily be a 19 year old. And, that doesn't mean they were held back a year during school, just that they started a year later.

Maybe the solution is to get rid of the rule that allows parents to hold their kids back a year to start. There will still be some discrepancies. When I started school the cut-off was end of November, which meant I did not turn 18 until November my first year in college. Kids born in early December were almost a year older. That's a huge difference at age 5.

But with the holding back rule kids the oldest kids can be almost 2 years older than the youngest kids in the class.

Whoa! My niece who is a sophomore was in both the 1600m and 3200m with Natalie Cook. It was my first time watching Natalie run in person and I was very impressed. I am uncertain at this point if Natalie should be allowed to set records at her age in high school but I will say that she is a phenomenal athlete, and I can't wait to see what she does in the NCAA.

Every state already has a hard cutoff. You want it moved down for no reason. Why impose that on thousands of parents who have kids who are not ready to attend school at 4 or 5?

The reason is to create a level playing field so all kids within a grade are within 1 year of age to one another. And are roughly at the same level of physical and emotional maturity. Of course there will always be differences, but the holding back rule magnifies them considerably.

High school covers about 5 years of children. Your idea changes nothing.

Every state has their own cutoff. Some schools are year round. Some start in October while others start the beginning of August.

+1. kids brains develop differently and if you put a kid in school just because they have reached the age the state says they can go and they are not ready, it's like starting a 5k a mile behind and some never catch up. my sister was the youngest in her class, barely made the state cutoff, and she always struggled with school. the rest of us weren't brilliant but we didn't have nearly the trouble with reading and math as she did.