Oklahoma State signee Natalie Cook has continued her track dominance.
With a 3,200-meter time of 9:52.45 at the UIL area-round meet on Thursday, the Flower Mound (Texas) star broke a state record for the true 3,200-meter race. She passed the previous record of 9:58.58 set by Brynn Brown (Denton Guyer) in 2021 by a full six seconds.
While that’s the record for a true 3,200-meter race, the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association converted true two-mile races into 3,200 times, so this race technically does not live at the top of the record book.
But no need for Cook to fret; she also holds the record for two-mile with a time of 9:41:05. According to the Dallas Morning-News, that two-mile time was set in March and recorded at 9:44:44 and converted to 9:41:05 for a 3,200-meter race.
Nationally, the 3,200-meter time set on Thursday ranks No. 4 in history. She was about four-and-a-half seconds shy of Katelyn Touhy’s 2018 time of 09:47.88
Cook also won the 1,600-meter race at the meet with a time of 4:45.86.
The senior has absolutely dominated this season. Over back-to-back weekends in December, she won the RunningLane Cross Country and Eastbay national championships, becoming the first girl to win both in the same year, according to Runner’s World. She was part of the 4x-mile relay that set a national record in March, and set the second-best 5K time of all time, according to MileSplit.
After graduation, Cook will head to Oklahoma State. In an interview with USA TODAY after the Eastbay Championships, she commented on the coaching staff.
“They’re building a great team and I love Coach Dave (Smith) and Coach Anna (Boyert-Thorp) so much. … They want to win nationals and I want to be a part of it.”
