State Record Snapshot - Katelyn Tuohy Tops in Distance Marks

While there might not be much track going on in New York State, there is plenty of history to pore through. In our time off, we are looking to revisit all of the State Records for the Outdoor Season. Who these athletes were, where their marks came from, and where are they now. We're releasing "Snapshots Of A State Record," where you can learn what it takes, to put your mark on history. Tune in!

We are now looking at the records in a few events that are not at the outdoor States meet but definitely need to be highlighted. We look here at two long distance records from 2018 for events that are common for the boys but not so much for the girls. Enjoy!

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As is noted in the article about the boys record holders in the 1500m and 3000m, it is unusual for a state to have the boys and girls run different distances for the longest of the commonly done events. Only New York and Iowa split the boys at 1600m/3200m and the girls at 1500m/3000m. Four other states -- HI, OR, RI, and VT -- run the girls and also the boys at the 1500m/3000m distances, and the rest all have athletes do the 1600m/3200m combo at state championships except for Massachusetts which selects the older and slightly longer mile and 2 mile distances.

The reason that the NY girls and boys run different distances in the longer events is buried in the past. We should remember though that when the girls first started having local track meets in the early 1970s the 880 yard race was usually the longest distance for the girls and that such standard events as the 50 yard dash and hurdles, softball throw, and standing broad jump were common for the girls up to the start of statewide competition in 1975. A few top girls runners from the 1960s onward were familiar with the 1500m distance at large AAU regional meets, and it is possible that this influenced the leaders of the separate NYSPHSAA girls T&F administration to choose the 1500m and 3000m distances for the girls in 1980 during the transition to the metric system after five years with the mile and 2 mile.

For the NY girls, running the college and international standard of the 1500m and 3000m distances has prepared them well for later competitions years down the road. But like the guys who get their shot at the 3000m at the Penn Relays, the girls get their shot at the "guys" distance at the huge Loucks Games (mile and 3200m combo), the Penn Relays for the mile, and then at Nationals for the mile and 2 mile. In recent years North Rockland's Katelyn Tuohy has used both the Loucks and Nationals meets to set state records in the distance events. Her record for the mile came at the 2018 New Balance Outdoor Nationals, and her record for 8 times around the track came on a Friday evening that year in the Loucks Games. And though Tuohy definitely holds the fastest converted mark for the 2 mile, there are still 18.68 meters to go for a 2 mile distance after completing 3200 meters. So for even more fun we are adding a nod to another NY legend, Cornwall's Aisling Cuffe, for a big run in the 2 mile at the 2011 NBON.

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Katelyn Tuohy has been making news in outdoor T&F from the minute she stepped on the track as a 7th grader to win the 3000m of her school's Red Raider Invite with a US #1 time on an early April evening in 2015. During her six years on the track and XC trails, she piled up countless state and national class records, four individual and one team state record,  three national records, eleven state championships, eight national championships in track and XC along with a bunch of other team relay national crowns. She was undefeated in scholastic action at distances of 1K and over during her junior and senior years had and just one loss in the Millrose Mile as a sophomore. So Tuohy has put in a few miles between 2015 and 2020 and has swept up a lot of medals.

The fastest mile she ran was as a sophomore on June 17, 2018 at Nationals, and as usual she did it running virtually alone. Shooting away from the outside in the seventh slot, Tuohy broke off a sizzling 67.24 on the first quarter to open up a 10 meter lead on a game Naima Turbes of Marietta GA. Tuohy pumped through a 69.08 on the second quarter to open up a bigger gap as only Turbes was willing to risk even staying within four seconds of the leader at the halfway point. By the end of a third lap at 69.28, Tuohy was the only one in the camera view. Tuohy needed about a 69.6 on the last quarter to break the 36-year-old national record of 4:35.25 by Polly Plummer. Tuohy dug home with a 68.27 to set a new national mark of 4:33.87. Six runners crashed in together about 15 seconds back as Turbes placed 5th. Tuohy took more than 5 seconds off the state record set by Mary Cain then of Bronxville at the 2012 Penn Relays when she demolished an elite field with a 4:39.28 in the Championship of America Mile. Cain holds the national indoor mark for the mile at 4:28.25 from 2013.