Katelyn Tuohy, whose stellar high school career resulted in sky-high expectations in college, won her first NCAA title. Photo by Kevin Neri
North Carolina State sophomore Katelyn Tuohy won her first NCAA title Saturday afternoon, taking the 5,000 meters in 15 minutes, 18.39 seconds, a year after she struggled with injuries during her freshman season and faced pressure after not qualifying for the NCAA championship after her successful high school career.
“Last year I watched Elly Henes from back home in New York,” she said. “It was really cool to be able to follow in her footsteps.”
Tuohy experienced intense pressure after high school. She set a high school all-time girls 5K record in 16:06.87. She also owns four national high-school records on the track: the mile, indoor 3,000, 3,200 and indoor 5,000.
“I hope future generations see that you can do well post high school in a collegiate league,” she said. “It’s not easy, for sure. But if there are any young girls watching out there, just keep grinding. It’ll come.”
Tuohy said her teammates helped her deal with the weight and expectations. They uplift each other and are supportive; they strive to be better every practice.
“Honestly, having my teammates makes it so much easier,” she said. “We lined up five girls today in the 5K. Having my girls helps me out.”
During most of the race, Tuohy led the pack. Tuohy said she had no choice, because she didn’t “want to get boxed in or tripped up.” She looked at her coach every lap and looked for instruction, and her coach told her to stay calm because she can handle running hard in the front.
Runner-up Parker Valby’s strategy was “to sit on Tuohy for as long as she could.” When she noticed Tuohy did not make a move on the last three laps, she decided to go for it. However, with 600 meters to go, Tuohy decided if she could “open up a little bit of a gap” she could hold it until the end. After making her move, passing Valby, Tuohy held her place until the finish and Valby finished close behind at 15:20.10.
“It almost worked out. But runner-up is awesome,” said Valby, who runs for Florida.
“Honestly, I was waiting for her to make a similar move,” Tuohy said. “It never happened, so it kinda threw me off guard a little bit. But I guess it worked out in the end.”
Valby’s performance was also quite a feat considering she broke her foot in January. As a result, she did not compete in the indoor season. She only started to run two days a week three weeks ago.
