Tuohy Digs Deep To Overome Valby's Challenge, Win First Individual NCAA Cross Country Title

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photo by Keenan Gray

STILLWATER, Okla. –  We have seen Katelyn Tuohy as teen phenom, get knocked down, get back up, find her stride.

We have not seen what she did Saturday morning: Fall 12 seconds behind a rising rival, Parker Valby, with two kilometers to go on an undulating 6-kilometer cross-country course.

“I was like, ‘That’s really big,’“ Tuohy conceded.

Not as big as Tuohy’s surge to the finish.

She will go on to win more races, earn more titles, set more records, make herself known on an international stage. But when Katelyn Tuohy's career ends and reflection begins, this should be remembered as a crossroads.

The sophomore not only finished first, she led North Carolina State to a repeat team title over New Mexico, 114-140. Alabama, despite four runners in the top 16, was third with 166. Host Oklahoma State was the fourth podium team with 201.

“This ranks, honestly, probably top,” Tuohy said. “Individual win, team win. There’s nothing better than that.”

Her time was 19:27.7, more than 33 seconds faster than the record for the Greiner Family Course held by Alabama’s Mercy Chelangat. Valby, a Florida sophomore, was second in 19:30.9.

Nineteen women were under the record of 20:01.1 set by Chelangat at the NCAAs in March 2021. Chelangat was actually faster than 20 months ago, in 19:58.4, and yet finished 16th.

Valby acknowledged she was unaware of which tangents would have allowed her to run less distance and that she came up on the finish sooner than expected. There was no uncertainty about strategy.

“Just go for it,” she said.

She said she nearly tripped early – she did fall at last year’s NCAAs – and that influenced her to be the front-running target of the field.

But just as she beat Valby in the 5,000 meters at June’s NCAAs on the track, Tuohy did so again on the grass. A recently tweaked hamstring was never an issue, she said.

The issue was the 60-meter deficit. There were turns on the course when Tuohy lost sight of Valby.

“But I was confident I could reel it in,” Tuohy said.

By 5,000 meters, with the deficit down to five seconds, she realized she could catch her. Tuohy had said in a Friday news conference she had not red-lined all season, but she went deep into her reservoir for this victory. There was as much pain as there was joy.

“I just kind of closed my eyes,” she said of her downhill sprint to the line.

Valby, a native Floridian, said she had never run in such cold weather. She told herself “cold is a mind-set,” but added: “I didn’t feel my feet the entire time.”

Valby is an anomaly, logging 25-30 miles a week, supplemented by cross-training.

There was nothing peculiar about the victory by N.C. State, which was unbeaten and ranked No. 1 all season.

Through 4K, its duel was against Alabama, with the teams separated by a few points. Ultimately, New Mexico’s pack went on to attack the Wolfpack, climbing from 15th place at two kilometers (388 points) all the way to second.

At the finish, Tuohy was relieved to see teammate Kelsey Chmiel finishing third. Also for N.C. State, Samatha Bush was 15th. Its team scoring was 1-2-13-24-74.

New Mexico, with a tight 11-second spread, ran 20-23-31-32-34. It was the Lobos’ third loss to N.C. State this season, once on a tiebreaker. It was New Mexico's seventh podium finish in nine years under coach Joe Franklin.

N.C. State coach Laurie Henes said her main advice was for runners to measure their efforts from 4K to 4.5K so they could finish strong.

“Even here, I think that we were preaching things don’t have to be perfect to come away with the result you want,” Henes said. “If things are good, you keep working with that. You don’t have to be perfect to pull it off.”

Behind the top three, Northern Arizona’s Elise Stearns was fourth in 19:43.9. Pac-12 champion Bailey Hertenstein of Colorado, a transfer from Indiana, was fifth in 19:45.6. Freshmen Hilda Olemomoi of Alabama and Natalie Cook of Oklahoma State were sixth and seventh, respectively.

Oklahoma State’s Taylor Roe, second to Chelangat at the March 2021 NCAAs, finished 13th on her home course. Canadian steeplechaser Ceili McCabe of West Virginia, third at NCAAs last November, was 24th.

As momentous a year as it has been Tuohy, 2022 is not over. She said she will open indoor track in two weeks at Boston, and she hinted at becoming the first college woman to run sub-15:00 for 5,000 meters.

 Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.