Cook’s 5,000m record earns her USATF Athlete of the Week honors

INDIANAPOLIS — Running the fastest women’s 5,000m ever by an American U20 athlete, Natalie Cook (Flower Mound, Texas) earned recognition as the 13th USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2022.
 
Cook, a senior at Flower Mound High School, finished third in the open 5,000m at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 15:25.93, more than eight seconds faster than the best-ever U.S. U20 performance. Her time also smashed the national high school record of 15:34.47 by Jenna Hutchins in 2020.
 
The Oklahoma State signee was named the Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year last fall after winning the Eastbay Cross Country Nationals and the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships, and she also won the Texas 6A state cross country title. Her 9:44.44 indoor two-mile in March was the second-fastest ever by a high school girl.
 
Other top performances from last week:

• Jenny Hitchings, 58, broke her own American women's 55-59 age group record at the USATF Masters 10 Mile Championships in Sacramento with a 1:00:38. She was also the top age-graded female athlete at 100.88%.
• Nick Christie set a personal best of 1:22:44 in the 20km race walk at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour - Gold event in Poděbrady, Czechia, to place 19th and claim the No. 6 spot on the all-time U.S. performer list.
• Robyn Stevens moved to No. 4 on the all-time U.S. women’s performer list in the 20km race walk with her lifetime-best 1:32:15 to place 12th at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour – Gold event April 2 in Poděbrady, Czechia.
• Riley Cook, 40, was the men's overall winner at the USATF Masters 10 Mile Championships in Sacramento with a time of 50:00, 36 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

Now in its 21st year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
 
2022 Winners: January 10, Alicia Monson; January 17, Keira D’Amato; January 24, Nyckoles Harbor; January 31, Elle Purrier St. Pierre; February 7, Chris Nilsen; February 14, Grant Fisher; February 21, Camille Herron; February 28, Cole Hocker; March 7, Grant Fisher; March 14, Randolph Ross; March 21, Grant Holloway; March 28, Anna Hall; April 4, Natalie Cook.
 
We welcome your nominations!
 
To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about his/her performance to communications@usatf.org.
 
Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #USATF. 

Photo Credit: Stephen Spillman