Elliott Cook on The Golden Era of NCAA, Surviving Setbacks, and Finding the Confidence to Break Through
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 822 Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’re living in the golden era of NCAA middle distance running, and Elliott Cook is right in the center of it.
Elliot is the NCAA Outdoor 1500m runner-up (3:39.57) from 2024, while also coming in 8th at the US Olympic Team trials that year, running a career best 3:33.84. His other PRs include a 3:55 mile and 1:45.26 in the 800m.
In high school he was a four-time Ohio D1 Central District champion, a state indoor 1600m champion in 2020, and nabbed district titles in the 800m and 1600m; he also had a top-10 finish at Nike Cross Midwest.
Now a senior at Oregon finishing up his last days as a collegiate runner, Elliot battled a hip injury throughout the winter, but was able to compete this spring and summer, where, in July he ran his 800m personal best. He competed at the US Olympic Trials again this past summer, running a strong 3:35.36 to finish fourth in his heat, but missed the finals in a stacked field.
Elliott’s rise reminds us that progress doesn’t always announce itself, sometimes it builds quietly until the moment everything clicks. If you’re chasing something big, take a page from his story. Stay patient. Stay consistent. Your breakthrough might be closer than you think.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm definitely more excited for outdoors, but indoors, like, I'm just excited to race again. |
| 0:04.2 | It's been too long. Even racing in the summer when I did, it wasn't very fulfilling because I wasn't training the way I wanted to. So going into races, I never felt great. And my confidence was kind of at an all-time low. But I'd say I'm way more excited for outdoors. But yeah, indoors is just, it's a different beast, especially with the mile, because I've definitely got my eyes set on winning both the mile and 1,500 indoors and outdoors. |
| 0:25.5 | And that's a big task of stress you with some of the guys that are still in the NCAA |
| 0:29.4 | that I've dealt with before. |
| 0:31.7 | In indoors, we've got our eyes set on, yeah, going to, it's in Arkansas this year in Fayetteville, |
| 0:37.7 | going to Fayetteville and taking on the title. |
| 0:43.4 | That was Elliot Cook today, back on the Running Effect podcast. |
| 0:46.3 | I have the privilege of sitting down with Elliot before his final two seasons in the NCAA, |
| 0:50.9 | where he has eligibility remaining in indoor and outdoor track where he's coming |
| 0:55.0 | for it all. |
| 0:55.9 | Elliot specializes, I believe in the 1500. |
| 0:58.5 | He sometimes runs the 800 and he's actually running his first 3K coming up here on December |
| 1:02.9 | 6, which honestly may have already happened by the time this conversation comes out. |
| 1:06.9 | But he's a killer in the 1500 and in the mile. |
| 1:09.4 | He's run 333 in the 1500 and 355 in the mile |
| 1:13.2 | and back in high school in my great state of Ohio. Elliot was a state champion and an absolute |
| 1:19.2 | stud. I really enjoy my conversations with Elliot, partially because we have that Ohio core to us. |
| 1:25.1 | We actually banter about quite a few Ohio things in today's conversation, |
| 1:28.2 | which is quite fun. We also talk about the state of the NCAA and share some discussion back |
| 1:32.9 | and forth on our thoughts on international athletes and just kind of the current present state |
| 1:38.4 | of the NCAA in the future of it. And I really enjoyed this one. I always enjoy my conversations |
| 1:42.4 | with Elliott because they're just that. Their conversations, they're always fun and lighthearted. So if you guys enjoy this one. I always enjoy my conversations with Elliot because they're just |
... |
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