For the first time, she has people who can keep up with her and push her at practice. She would never be faster in college and beyond.Īt Hayward Field, Tuohy, now 20, put that talk to rest, once and for all.Īsk her how she’s managed to be successful in college, and Tuohy is quick to credit her teammates. So many people were watching her every move, she couldn’t ever have an off day without the armchair coaches going to Instagram or the message boards to say she was “done.” She had already reached her full potential, the unreasonable thinking went. She became the first person to win the race three years in a row, but it felt like a pyrrhic victory. At NXN, it took a sprint for her to hold off two talented competitors coming up on her shoulder. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Henes said.īy the time Tuohy was a senior, it was getting tougher. A security guard had to go to North Rockland’s tent to shoo away all other high school runners who were crowding her to get a glimpse-and a photo-of her warming up. Her current coach, Laurie Henes, remembers watching Tuohy race at a large invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a junior, she set records everywhere she raced and won NXN for a second year in a row.Īnd she started drawing crowds. When she was a sophomore at North Rockland High School in 2017, she won the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) cross-country title. Now, maybe, fans will let her look ahead and not back at her high school days. She also outsprinted her high school self-and the crazy mountain of expectations that followed her to college.

In a way, Tuohy didn’t just outlast her collegiate rivals. Speaking to reporters in a tent just off the track, she said simply, “This one meant a lot.” Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to playĪfter the race, ESPN cameras captured Tuohy in a long trackside hug with her mom, Denise.

Marathon cat runner