Girls Highlight Race
Girls Varsity 2
Teams: North Rockland (105.0), Cornwall (99.2), Brewster (90.0), Bronxville (87.4)
Individuals: Katelyn Tuohy (North Rockland) - 164, Brooke Rauber (Tully) - 147, Elsa Neubauer (Brewster) - 113, Meredith Hickman (Cornwall) - 111, Sydney Decker (Cornwall) - 107, Brittany Pezzementi (North Rockland) - 105
Breakdown: It should be clear based on the entries why this race should be the highlight. Not only is Katelyn Tuohy the top seed, but Brooke Rauber comes in with a Speed Rating close enough to that Freshman Class Record that it could be close. She's only about three points off, and will need every bit of that to keep Tuohy in her sights. North Rockland should win the team battle here.
Why This Is Katelyn Tuohy's First Real Test
The sophomore sensation has run four races this season, so far, and in each came a course record. More notabe of those are the Bear Mountain Course Record and the Manhattan Invite Course Record. Now, Katelyn Tuohy has her eyes set on Bowdoin Park, and surely, the course record of 17:16.9 is on her mind. However, this record is much different than the others that have gone down.
The Manhattan Record was impressive, yes, but there was a caveat. The Manhattan layout, as it currently sits, has only been really challenged at the mid-point of the season. Athletes didn't "peak" for Manhattan, nor has there ever really been National Level competition at Bear Mountain. Some could consider those records easier to break than Bowdoin Park.
What makes the Bowdoin Park Record so storied is that the course serves as both the host to the Federation Meet, and the NXN-NY Regional. There, almost exclusively, the top times ever run have always come from late November, where athletes are peaked and primed for Post-Season competition. Theoretically, Tuohy is going after these records halfway towards her final peak. If she can capture a Bowdoin Record at this point of the season, it would be remarkable.
Aisling Cuffe set the current course record at 17:16.9 in 2010 at the Federation Championships, garnering a 167.4 speed rating. She then cruised a qualifying race at VCP, eventually leading to her capture of the Foot Locker National Title with a 170.3, the highest Speed Rating for a NY Girl, ever.
Cuffe was in her prime those final three weeks in 2010. Her Bowdoin Run was 11-seconds better than Nicole Blood, who was once the greatest runner New York ever produced. Since 2010, no one has come within 25-seconds of that record, the closest being Mary Cain in 2011.
If the record does not come this weekend, Tuohy will have three more attempts to capture the record, much later into the season. The Section 1 Sectionals are held at Bowdoin, and if Tuohy elects to attend, the Federation Championships and NXN-NY are located here as well. While it seems more likely she will challenge the record then, it wouldn't surprise anyone if she surpassed it this weekend.