Former Cotter Standout Runner, Lauren Ping Commits to OSU

May 06, 2022

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Former Cotter standout and current Desert Vista (Arizona) junior Lauren Ping announced her verbal commitment to Oklahoma State University, where she will run alongside her sister Grace Ping once again.

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Lauren is one of Minnesota's all-time great distance runners from her time at Cotter High School in Winona. Ping spent her 7th and 8th grade seasons at Cotter, before spending time in Utah and Arizona. While at Cotter, Ping was a 2x State Champion in the 3200m, 2x State Runner-Up in the 1600m, and the XC State Runner-Up in 2017 and 2018.

Ping holds some historic marks in Minnesota in the cross country 5k, and on the track in the 1600m and 3200m as seen below:

Event	Time	All-Time Rank
1600m	4:50.64	15th
3200m	10:19.66	6th
5K (XC)	17:07.72	8th

Keep in mind that she did all that in her 7th and 8th seasons. If we look at her marks for her grade all-time in Minnesota, she holds the following ranks:

Event	Grade	Time	All-Time Rank
5K (XC)	7th	17:07.72	1st
5K (XC)	8th	17:29.30	2nd
1600m	7th	4:58.25	1st
1600m	8th	4:50.64	1st
3200m	7th	10:25.12	1st
3200m	8th	10:32.04	2nd

So even without running in Minnesota after her 8th-grade seasons, she already had one of the most impressive distance girl's resumes in Minnesota state history. Since she moved to Arizona though she has moved the bar even lower.

Since starring for Desert Vista, Ping has won 3 Division 1 Arizona State XC Championships, won the NXR Southwest Regional in 2021 and won 2 Division 1 Arizona State Outdoor Track titles. She has improved her 1600m PR to 4:43.26, her 3200m PR to 10:16.25 and her 5K PR to 16:40.40.

Clearly, Oklahoma State University is getting an all-time great Minnesota and Arizona distance runner, alongside her sister Grace Ping.