just here to voice my displeasure with letsrun constantly using a pic of Cook in an OSU kit, who have had literally nothing to do with her success thus far. so not pro.
California age rule “No student whose nineteenth (19) birthday is attained prior to June 15 of the prior school year shall participate or practice on any CIF team.”
Cook would be eligible to compete. She would be ineligible if she was a junior
she would still be eligible to compete right now, doesn't matter if she's in 9th,10th, 11th or 12th grade.
remember that weini kelati won footlocker at the age of 19 while only a sophomore.
Natalie Cook is the one who posted the image of her in the OSU uniform
sure, cause she's excited and wanted to tell her followers she's headed to OSU when she signed with them. doesn't mean it should be the stock image used in every single article about her.
I'll put it this way. In this sport when someone suddenly and seemingly out of no where pops off and suddenly starts running great times without any precursive history of doing so it makes you curious. Cook starts off the season losing at XC, never gets a SR above 163, runs well at Runninglane but nothing historic and cannot break 16 or Hutchins course record, then runs 17:14 at Balboa, barely holding off Perez. Then a few months later she is running two monster times, blowing Perez away in the process, that you acknowledge you did not think she could run based on her track record. It piqued my curiosity and the running community is a very small world. The fact that as it turns out she is older side of high school eligibility is relevant information.
Now as it happens college age runners on the women's side will sometimes make huge gains compared to high school and become national contenders after good but not stellar high school careers. But while we have had high school runners emerge to have strong senior seasons seemingly out of no where, this instance is beyond that. Will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out.
I'll put it this way. In this sport when someone suddenly and seemingly out of no where pops off and suddenly starts running great times without any precursive history of doing so it makes you curious. Cook starts off the season losing at XC, never gets a SR above 163, runs well at Runninglane but nothing historic and cannot break 16 or Hutchins course record, then runs 17:14 at Balboa, barely holding off Perez. Then a few months later she is running two monster times, blowing Perez away in the process, that you acknowledge you did not think she could run based on her track record. It piqued my curiosity and the running community is a very small world. The fact that as it turns out she is older side of high school eligibility is relevant information.
Now as it happens college age runners on the women's side will sometimes make huge gains compared to high school and become national contenders after good but not stellar high school careers. But while we have had high school runners emerge to have strong senior seasons seemingly out of no where, this instance is beyond that. Will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out.
it's not exactly difficult to figure out where this improvement came from. pictures don't lie.
THe OSU pic will give readers more of a story and point of interest than a school they've never heard of and will never hear of again.
ALso, it is probably the most clear photo of her available.
hey maybe you're right. as a former pro it was drilled into my head early and often that you only wear the kit of the team that's actually supporting you. so yeah, i'm prob the only one who actually gets irked seeing the OSU kit constantly.
I'll put it this way. In this sport when someone suddenly and seemingly out of no where pops off and suddenly starts running great times without any precursive history of doing so it makes you curious. Cook starts off the season losing at XC, never gets a SR above 163, runs well at Runninglane but nothing historic and cannot break 16 or Hutchins course record, then runs 17:14 at Balboa, barely holding off Perez. Then a few months later she is running two monster times, blowing Perez away in the process, that you acknowledge you did not think she could run based on her track record. It piqued my curiosity and the running community is a very small world. The fact that as it turns out she is older side of high school eligibility is relevant information.
Now as it happens college age runners on the women's side will sometimes make huge gains compared to high school and become national contenders after good but not stellar high school careers. But while we have had high school runners emerge to have strong senior seasons seemingly out of no where, this instance is beyond that. Will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out.
Yeah its interesting to say the least, there is at least some isolated precedence to see rapid improvement when a runner is moving over from soccer, or moving from a small rural school to a larger school with better coaching / increased mileage. To my knowledge its unprecedented when its someone who's run with the same coach since early middle school, having been very active in state/national track events. College freshman sometimes make big gains, but thats also often the result of a new coach and improved training partners. I would be curious to understand what the past injuries were that were so dibilitating because there are not many gaps in the race record. Changes in training philosophies to prevent injuries is not easy to accomplish especially while making massive performance gains, but obviously the low mileage / eliptical program is working with no limit to the gains in sight as of yet.
I'll put it this way. In this sport when someone suddenly and seemingly out of no where pops off and suddenly starts running great times without any precursive history of doing so it makes you curious. Cook starts off the season losing at XC, never gets a SR above 163, runs well at Runninglane but nothing historic and cannot break 16 or Hutchins course record, then runs 17:14 at Balboa, barely holding off Perez. Then a few months later she is running two monster times, blowing Perez away in the process, that you acknowledge you did not think she could run based on her track record. It piqued my curiosity and the running community is a very small world. The fact that as it turns out she is older side of high school eligibility is relevant information.
Now as it happens college age runners on the women's side will sometimes make huge gains compared to high school and become national contenders after good but not stellar high school careers. But while we have had high school runners emerge to have strong senior seasons seemingly out of no where, this instance is beyond that. Will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out.
it's not exactly difficult to figure out where this improvement came from. pictures don't lie.
I agree, but another red flag: being able to only run 10-20 mpw without getting injured further supports the notion. I don't buy it is completely biomechanical in this case.
Hopefully she gets on the right track and stops taking shortcuts to success that ruin the ability to reach her potential in the long term. She is clearly very talented.
it's not exactly difficult to figure out where this improvement came from. pictures don't lie.
I agree, but another red flag: being able to only run 10-20 mpw without getting injured further supports the notion. I don't buy it is completely biomechanical in this case.
Hopefully she gets on the right track and stops taking shortcuts to success that ruin the ability to reach her potential in the long term. She is clearly very talented.
Yeah it'll be interesting to see how her training plays out at OSU. Run with the team 2-3x a week and cross train all other days?
Yeah its interesting to say the least, there is at least some isolated precedence to see rapid improvement when a runner is moving over from soccer, or moving from a small rural school to a larger school with better coaching / increased mileage. To my knowledge its unprecedented when its someone who's run with the same coach since early middle school, having been very active in state/national track events. College freshman sometimes make big gains, but thats also often the result of a new coach and improved training partners. I would be curious to understand what the past injuries were that were so dibilitating because there are not many gaps in the race record. Changes in training philosophies to prevent injuries is not easy to accomplish especially while making massive performance gains, but obviously the low mileage / eliptical program is working with no limit to the gains in sight as of yet.
again...pics don't lie. and this is nowhere close to being "unprecedented". literally the most common reason you see girls make a sudden and massive improvement.
Uh, not isolated to "girls." Me included, Nur, Nico Young, Rupp, Fisher, Ahmed.. Jager.. pay attention, boy.