Moment #3 - Katelyn Tuohy Dominates At Holmdel
By the Fall of 2018, Katelyn Tuohy (North Rockland) was a known entity. For athletes in the Northeast, that name recognition came way before her dominating 2017 Season that earned our Top Moment of Last Year, culminating with an NXN-National Title. Tuohy then saw improvements over the Winter and Spring Seasons, indicating she may be even able to top herself come Cross Country. Her Coach, Brian Diglio, saw the expectations mounting, both extrinsically and intrinsically, and made the decision to avoid major meets that Tuohy had run prior, to avoid any sort of unneeded comparison to what some considered a "perfect season." Replacing the Grout Invite up North, and the more local Manhattan Invite, North Rockland would venture to the Ocean State Invite in Rhode Island, and the Shore Coaches Invite just over the border in New Jersey.
Disregarding a controlled tempo effort at her early-season home meet, Tuohy debuted her Junior Campaign at Goddard Park, in Rhode Island. Notoriously flat, and especially fast, the course played right into the strengths of Tuohy. She crushed her effort, landing the highest ever debut Speed Rating ever assigned, a 176. Not only that, she set the unofficial National Record for the fastest 3-Mile ever contested in High School Cross Country, when she crossed the line in 16:06.87. It was once unthinkable for a female athlete to break 16mins in XC, something that until very recently had never been achieved on an Indoor Track. But Tuohy was pushing those boundaries, and the hype had returned. Soon after her run, the talk quickly turned to, what could she do on the hilly Holdmel course?
Holdmel Park is just across the border in New Jersey. For many in the Northeast, who don't get to venture to some of New York's more difficult venues, Holmdel Park can be seen as one of the more difficult courses around. A mile up to the bowl, rolling hills up top, then a downhill to the finishing chute. The course had history, although not as storied as some. An NXN-Champ in Ashley Higginson here, and a Foot Locker Champ in Janet Smith there, but nothing like Van Cortlandt Park or Bowdoin Park. Still, the people of New Jersey were excited to see what had been hailed as the follow-up to the Greatest XC Season in Prep History. The crowds would be reminiscent of the years of Cheserek.
Avoiding the celebrity status, Tuohy warmed up quietly. The last female race of the day, there was plenty of time for spectators to gather. She got on the line alongside her teammates, and the gun went off. She shot out from the line, and put a 10m gap on the field in the opening stretch. Despite the uphills, Tuohy came through the Mile Mark in 5:23. Second place wouldn't follow her through there until . Up through the backhills, Tuohy came through 2-Miles in 10:46, good for another 5:23, paced well ahead of many in the boys races than ran before. Around the Bowl and down the course to the finishing straight, the crowd erupted with the clock not clicking over to 16mins total yet. Pushing through the line to public fanfare, Tuohy crossed in 16:21.0. She had broken the course record by over a minute, and was less than a minute-thirty behind Edward Cheserek's Boys Course Record.
The performance would nab Tuohy a 177-Speed Rating, the highest of her career. She would go on to win the State and National Title, despite some recovery time from growing pains. On the Track Indoors, she would set a new National Record of 9:01.81 for 3000m in her long awaited debut competing against Pro athletes. She would spend much of Spring finishing the Junior Year Academic grind, but grabbed an Indoor National DMR Title with her team, along a Loucks Mile win, and sweeping Indoor and Outdoor States in the 3000m. She returns in 2019 looking to become the first athlete to win NXN three years in a row, topping Sarah Baxter, who won twice, with a third place finish her Senior Year. Who knows where North Rockland will opt to compete this Fall Season, or if Tuohy's training will be pushed back, gearing towards a bid at the Olympic Trials, but it will be hard to match our Moment #3, when she crossed the line at Holdmel.
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