North Rockland runner’s race to the top
THIELLS, N.Y. (BVM) — Katelyn Tuohy’s path on the track has led her to become one of the nation’s best high school distance runners of all-time. Tuohy’s success can be described by the hardware she collected during her time at North Rockland High School. With five national awards consisting of Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year and Gatorade Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Tuohy has accomplished about all that she could in her high school career.
The recognition didn’t always come easy for the New York native. With awards coming nearly every year, Tuohy had to adjust to the limelight. As a sophomore, she was honored as the Gatorade National Player of the Year in both cross country and track and field, the first dual winner of the award. She was also named the 2018 Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year.
“When she was younger it was very hard,” North Rockland cross country coach Brian Diglio said. “In addition to the rewards and things like that, she was one of the first high school superstars in this technology age. She was pretty famous on all the digital media platforms also, which is pretty difficult for a high school kid to deal with, even a coach to help her navigate.”
For Tuohy, the senior runner has had a target on her back since the seventh grade. In her first 1500-meter competition, Tuohy ran a 4:54 race, winning by 26 seconds. With a sizable age gap in competition, her coaches shifted her focus to the growing experience that she could get at the high school level.
“I don’t think either of us saw it as obstacles, I think we saw it kind of as challenges,” Diglio said. “We never put any sort of pressure on Katelyn, she put enough on herself. It was really never about winning, it was never about hitting a certain time all the way through her career. We really just focused instead on trying to deliver the best performance that she was capable of, on that day.
“She wants to win all the time and when she was younger, there were very good girls in New York state, she lost a bunch, and she lost to a number of top level runners, and those were great learning opportunities for her. One of the things that was far harder, once she started winning all the time, it’s not that she got complacent, but it’s a lot easier when you get pushed and you lose and that’s kind of how we grow and develop.”
After the conclusion of her senior cross country season, Tuohy finished her career with three-straight undefeated seasons, with her last loss coming as a freshman at the Nike Cross Nationals in 2016. With so much recognition throughout her high school career, the 2020 North Rockland graduate has never been complacent.
“Not for a second in her life has she needed motivation for anything,” Diglio said. “She is one of the most motivated people. That’s how you know that they are really that special. The drive, the work ethic, and the motivation that Katelyn had, that went along with that talent, was really what set her apart from pretty much everybody else.”
The next step for Tuohy after her star-studded career is coming into focus. After her track season was shut down in the spring because of COVID-19, Tuohy has been preparing to start her collegiate career at North Carolina State.
http://www.instagram.com/p/B6ZAurbA7U1/?hl=en
“We’ve had good runners at North Rockland but I think she’ll be pushed even more by some of the talent that they [North Carolina State] have already at the school and their incoming freshman class,” Diglio said. “It’s really exciting to see what she’s going to do at the next level and how she’s gonna progress.
I don’t want her to put any limits on herself now and I don’t want her to put any limits on the future.”
