The 2017-18 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Girls Track and Field teams are coordinated by Fred Baer, the founder of Track and Field Writers of America. Girls selections by Mike Kennedy, high school editor of Track and Field News.
Criteria included ranking on USA TODAY Sports and Track and Field News national lists and the number of top performances along with head-to-head competition during the regular season and in major postseason meets.
The honorees are divided based on event. Follow the links below for each group; athletes are listed alphabetically. Races in meters unless noted. Field events are listed in feet and inches.
Girls Track & Field Coach of the Year: Julie Alano, Hamilton Southeastern
EVENTS: Sprints | Distance | Hurdles | Jumps & Heptathlon | Throws
MORE: Second Team
ATHLETE PROFILE:
Katelyn Tuohy
School: North Rockland (Tiells, N.Y.)
Year: Sophomore
Event: 1500, mile, 3000, 3200
It took until the final day of national high school competition this season for a classic record — a year older than USA Today – to be finally eclipsed. And it was by a sophomore.
Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland (Tiells, N.Y.) is the American Family Insurance ALL-USA girls high school track and field athlete of the year after erasing the oldest girls record. She ran the mile in 4 minutes, 33.87 seconds at the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., on June 17 to better the 36-year-old mark of 4:35.24 set by Polly Plumer of University (Irvine, Calif.) on May 16, I982.
That completed a sweep of ancient girls distance records (mile and 3,200 meters) and a brilliant year of running by Tuohy, who was a second team All-USA selection as a freshman in 2017.
In the fall, she won a cross country title at the Nike Cross Nationals, setting a course record. During the indoor season, she ran 3,000 meters in 9:05.26, second on the all-time high school indoor list to the record 9:04.51 by Mary Cain of Bronxville (N.Y.) in 2013. Tuohy finished the indoor campaign with a two mile victory at the New Balance Nationals, setting a world age 15 record of 9:58.89 (the first underclass runner to better ten minutes).
Moving outdoors, Tuohy set the high school record for 3,200 meters at the Glenn Loucks Games in White Plains, N.Y. on May 12, running 9:47.88 to eclipse the 22-year-old mark of 9:48.59 by Kim Mortensen (Thousand Oaks, Calif.). At the New York state meet she won the 3,000 meters in a state record 9:09.71, No. 3 on the all-time high school outdoor list, and the 1,500 meters in 4:14.45 (No. 8 all-time) on consecutive days this month.
Tuohy then put the exclamation point on her year with the dramatic mile achievement in the heat in Greensboro, running virtually alone after a 67-second first 440 yard lap. She continued to pull away to win by a 16-second margin with a 68-second final lap.
“It is actually pretty scary to be responsible for a talent like this,” said her coach Brian Diglio in a New York Times story this month. Her parents, Patrick and Denise, have limited Tuohy’s media exposure and interviews.
The statistics on her accomplishments have, however, spoken loudly.
PRESEASON: 2018 ALL-USA Preseason Girls Track and Field Team