Honestly I kind of agree! I remember everyone was saying Jenna Hutchins only ran low mileage n she wouldn't get injured. And then people were saying dudek started running really late and she had so much improvement ahead of her. I think it's okay to call BS on a lot of these pet theories that everyone throws out that never mean anything.
- form - her stride, posture, arm carriage actually look quite efficient; the issue is her feet flare out a lot on the back kick, which can look goofy and put some stress on knee and ankle.
- injuries - she faced injuries as soph and Jr, and settled on low mileage / cross training to overcome this issue, resulting in #1 xc rank and now this 15:25.
- college outlook - given that she's handled injury already at HS level, and assuming OSU works carefully with her, I think she will have a great college career. Can't promise how she'll develop as pro, but college very promising.
I'm usually a doubter, but I'm a believer in Cook, great kid, smart competitive racer, and now 'streetsmart' regarding nutrition, injury prevention and training. Not a shock if she pops a great mile or 2mile at may/June championship meets.
She's going to Oklahoma state, that's where Taylor roe goes right? And grace ping? Well she'll have some good teammates to push her... So here's hoping she can Buck the trend that most top high school girl has regressed freshman year of college... At least recently, I think rainsberger hit the ground running at oregon, and kelati was good really quick too...
Congrats to Natalie Cook. Just awesome keeping this fitness going! I just told my daughters this morning I ran 15:54 my FR year D1 and 15:23 as a SO before developing to sub-14:30 and sub-14:10!!! and Cook's in high school!
- form - her stride, posture, arm carriage actually look quite efficient; the issue is her feet flare out a lot on the back kick, which can look goofy and put some stress on knee and ankle.
- injuries - she faced injuries as soph and Jr, and settled on low mileage / cross training to overcome this issue, resulting in #1 xc rank and now this 15:25.
- college outlook - given that she's handled injury already at HS level, and assuming OSU works carefully with her, I think she will have a great college career. Can't promise how she'll develop as pro, but college very promising.
I'm usually a doubter, but I'm a believer in Cook, great kid, smart competitive racer, and now 'streetsmart' regarding nutrition, injury prevention and training. Not a shock if she pops a great mile or 2mile at may/June championship meets.
I must concur on a positive outlook for her. She seems to have overcome some adversity and is very positive yet realistic in her interviews. I loved how she gave her all for her relay team at NBIN to get the record after winning a tough two mile. Just a great kid all around.
- form - her stride, posture, arm carriage actually look quite efficient; the issue is her feet flare out a lot on the back kick, which can look goofy and put some stress on knee and ankle.
- injuries - she faced injuries as soph and Jr, and settled on low mileage / cross training to overcome this issue, resulting in #1 xc rank and now this 15:25.
- college outlook - given that she's handled injury already at HS level, and assuming OSU works carefully with her, I think she will have a great college career. Can't promise how she'll develop as pro, but college very promising.
I'm usually a doubter, but I'm a believer in Cook, great kid, smart competitive racer, and now 'streetsmart' regarding nutrition, injury prevention and training. Not a shock if she pops a great mile or 2mile at may/June championship meets.
There's an elephant in the room here. Is even more obvious in person than on the video. Won't say it, but if you all don't know what you're looking at then you haven't been around the sport for very long or just aren't paying attention. Let's just say that I'm not optimistic about her future running.
Watch all Stanford Invite races here: https://flosports.link/3uO6zdwFlower Mound high school senior Natalie Cook runs 15:25.93 to finish third in the women's...
Her form actually looks really good when they show her from the side. She's a nice spring to her step. Good bounce. Kind of reminds me a little of Kelsey chmiel...
At one point the girls 5000 record was broken eight years in a row. It is not that uncommon. I expect this one will last a couple of years. Times in high school are getting faster. Training is better and technology is better. Talent is basically the same.
It is pointless to speculate about the future because no one knows. I think Cook's form is fine. This race was also a picture perfect set up for a record. She had a peloton to race with up until around the 12 minute mark and was never on her own. She briefly took the lead then the two pros surged ahead and she got to draft off the second place finisher to the line. It makes a big difference. Objectively if you place Hutchins in this race she gets a similar time. It was a very well chosen venue and a new record. I don't see this effort as any more or less impressive given the differences in how each race was run and the degree of help the athletes received..
One thing that is overlooked is that Cook is professionally coached because her mother was a professional runner who ran at the Olympic trials. Her father, who is her high school coach, is no slouch either having been an NCAA AA. So her training and preparation are going to be very sound. The choice of venue, the way it was run, the preparation was all very well done. Chances are she is getting better training and race prep than the typical high school runner relying on the local coach. Whether that leaves as much room for growth due to what was usually better training and preparation when the athlete starts running in college remains to be seen. But what happens year to year is always a crapshoot.
At one point the girls 5000 record was broken eight years in a row. It is not that uncommon. I expect this one will last a couple of years. Times in high school are getting faster. Training is better and technology is better. Talent is basically the same.
It is pointless to speculate about the future because no one knows. I think Cook's form is fine. This race was also a picture perfect set up for a record. She had a peloton to race with up until around the 12 minute mark and was never on her own. She briefly took the lead then the two pros surged ahead and she got to draft off the second place finisher to the line. It makes a big difference. Objectively if you place Hutchins in this race she gets a similar time. It was a very well chosen venue and a new record. I don't see this effort as any more or less impressive given the differences in how each race was run and the degree of help the athletes received..
One thing that is overlooked is that Cook is professionally coached because her mother was a professional runner who ran at the Olympic trials. Her father, who is her high school coach, is no slouch either having been an NCAA AA. So her training and preparation are going to be very sound. The choice of venue, the way it was run, the preparation was all very well done. Chances are she is getting better training and race prep than the typical high school runner relying on the local coach. Whether that leaves as much room for growth due to what was usually better training and preparation when the athlete starts running in college remains to be seen. But what happens year to year is always a crapshoot.
Wow we have got a debbie downer over here. How about you just appreciate that she ran the fastest time ever for a high school girl. She's obviously an unbelievable talent with a bright future
Who is being a downer? Just giving an objective assessment. For all I know Cook will win an Olympic medal. But I don't pretend to know.
Ahhh don't worry about it champ! Some people don't understand that this is a discussion forum... And it's not just a cheerleading crowd that hurl superlatives at everything... Some people just don't like that the world is nuanced
- form - her stride, posture, arm carriage actually look quite efficient; the issue is her feet flare out a lot on the back kick, which can look goofy and put some stress on knee and ankle.
- injuries - she faced injuries as soph and Jr, and settled on low mileage / cross training to overcome this issue, resulting in #1 xc rank and now this 15:25.
- college outlook - given that she's handled injury already at HS level, and assuming OSU works carefully with her, I think she will have a great college career. Can't promise how she'll develop as pro, but college very promising.
I'm usually a doubter, but I'm a believer in Cook, great kid, smart competitive racer, and now 'streetsmart' regarding nutrition, injury prevention and training. Not a shock if she pops a great mile or 2mile at may/June championship meets.
There's an elephant in the room here. Is even more obvious in person than on the video. Won't say it, but if you all don't know what you're looking at then you haven't been around the sport for very long or just aren't paying attention. Let's just say that I'm not optimistic about her future running.
Don't know what you're alluding to. She's definitely not too skinny, very normal build for a female runner. No anorexia.
Who is being a downer? Just giving an objective assessment. For all I know Cook will win an Olympic medal. But I don't pretend to know.
I don't know about being a downer but you seem to be downplaying her talent. She only ran this fast because of great coaching, ideal race conditions, shoes, etc. And you seem to imply that others could have run this time with similar advantages.
Maybe - but they didn't so maybe Cook is just faster, regardless. She completely dominated both RunningLane and Eastbay. Not Tuohy or any other girl won both NXN and FL. And it's not like she beat a bunch of no-talent runners. Two of those runners she beat handily have already run 4:35 and 4:36 miles.
Of course no one knows if she will be successful at the next level, but at least give HER the credit for what she accomplished this year.
I think my assessment is pretty accurate. Comparatively, factoring in the differences in how the races were set up and run, I thought her effort and Hutchins efforts were on par. Hutchins ran the entire second half of her race from the front. Seems like a fair assessment.
If I recall the NXN regional and FL regional in NY so running both was not an option. KT would not have bothered anyway. She had a full slate.
I think my assessment is pretty accurate. Comparatively, factoring in the differences in how the races were set up and run, I thought her effort and Hutchins efforts were on par. Hutchins ran the entire second half of her race from the front. Seems like a fair assessment.
If I recall the NXN regional and FL regional in NY so running both was not an option. KT would not have bothered anyway. She had a full slate.
I'm not sure how you are quantifying the respective "efforts" of those two athletes to determine that they were on par. The only true metric we have is their times.