Oklahoma State signee Natalie Cook showed signs of her outstanding talent this weekend when she shattered the girls’ high school 5K record in front of her new coaches at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday. Complete results
The Flower Mound (Texas) high school senior lined up in a field of collegiate and professional athletes and she used the moment to completely smashed the old 5K mark by nearly ten seconds after running a time of 15:25.93 on her way to defeating every collegiate athlete in the field.
Cook’s performance saw her finishing third overall behind a pair of professional runners, with former Oregon All-American Molly Grabill, running unattached winning the event with 15:22.97, and Jenny Nesbitt, representing New Balance, taking second with a time of 15:24.59.
The high school distance superstar improved the previous overall high school record of 15:34, which was done by Jenna Hutchins in 2020. Hutchins is now a BYU freshman. Read more: 2022 Pepsi Florida Relays results – Two days
Cook’s time put her among the top 15 runners in the event this season, while according to the OSU website, the 18-year-old would have been fast enough to win the NCAA 5K national title at the outdoor championships last year.
Her time is also almost 16 seconds faster than the current Oklahoma State program record, which is held by former Cowgirl national champion Jackie Goodman in 1989.
Cook is coming off an impressive cross country season which saw her receiving the Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year award this past fall after winning national championships at the Eastbay Cross Country National Finals and Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships.
She was also part of the Flower Mound team that re-set the national high school record in the 4xmile event at New Balance Nationals Indoor.
