She ran healthy. That meant she ran happy.
And ran fast.
Katelyn Tuohy served notice Saturday she’s fully back.
Served notice more records will fall.
Saturday, it was the girls course record at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina.
Tuohy, who was named Gatorade national girls high school cross-country runner of the year the past two years, ran the 3.1-mile course in 16 minutes, 22.8 seconds for her first major win of her final high school cross-country season.
That time broke the girls course record set in 2015 by current North Carolina State runner Nevada Mareno by more than 13 seconds.
The North Rockland senior’s nearest competitor, Jenna Hutchins of Johnson City, Tennessee, was nearly 42 seconds behind in the 183-athlete race.
“I think she was even more anxious than I was,” North Rockland coach Brian Diglio said. “It’s been a long time since she felt healthy and able to give a big effort.”
Tuohy, who noted so far this fall she has focused on logging miles but will start incorporating interval work aimed at developing speed, overcame knee tendinitis last fall to win her second Nike Nationals girls cross-country title. But she cut her spring track season short, foregoing Nationals, due to fatigue.
While allowing her to go all out Saturday, Diglio has applied the reins this fall to her training with the goal of keeping her healthy and having her peak late.
The highly-recruited 17-year-old, who was fitting in a visit to North Carolina State later in the day, acknowledged having a little “rust.”
She downplayed the significance of her win and time.
“Course records are course records. They’re not a big deal. But it’s really fun traveling down here. It’s just a fun trip for us,” Tuohy said.
