LOL. I remember that. During the Covid lockdowns. LR hyped it to the moon. Virtually the entire board was arguing with me that Brown's "time trial" was a legitimate record. My point was that she was a good 9:50s 3200 runner, but that the way that race was set up and the drafting and pacing taking place in the run resulted in a 10-15 second boost on what she was actually capable of in an actual race. I turned out to be right. The science of drafting and pacing is not that complicated.
I preface this again by saying 15:25 is a terrific time. But when I watched the race it was anticlimax. The amount of help Cook had was really substantial. She was in a peloton for the vast majority of the race and then when she very briefly surged ahead the pro runners immediately stepped in front of her and paced her to the line. It appeared that the pro runners were running specifically to help her break the record. It matters. Nichols for example PR'ed by 17 seconds. As record attempts go, the race could not have been more perfectly constructed. As good as the time was, when I watched the race it did not impress me as much as Hutchins run and certainly less than Tuohy's who ran with the maximum degree of difficulty possible. Given how the races were run, I would place this on par with Hutchins, with the time difference a function of how much help each runner received. Cook obviously trained very hard, and has in fact foregone a regular track season in an attempt to break records. If Hutchins ran this race my guess is she would run a similar time. I think 15 year old KT would have been capable too, but I have trouble seeing her being patient enough not to just say the hell with it and take off. When we compare the venues where the previous 5000 records were set, there were NB Nationals in a high school race, Virginia Beach in a high school race, and then the race Hutchins ran where she ended up running in the front the entire second half of the race. The Stanford Invite is a much better venue where the race was guaranteed to be paced for a record time and Cook would have a much better chance to be pulled along.
And on this point, age does matter. All the foregoing aside, a college age runner is going to have more stamina and better physical development than a high school runner. Like it or not, the fact that Cook is 19 (sorry 18 yrs, 11 months) and is the same age as a second semester college freshman is a legitimate part of evaluating the performance. Maybe I am wrong but it just seems a bit unsporting.
Still again, it is a very good time and shows potential for a strong NCAA career.