She beat Mary Cain’s national freshman record in the indoor 1,000.
She broke a 33-year-old state freshman record at 1,500 meters and hers was the second fastest time run in the country this winter.
Her time in the 3,000 meters was the eighth-best this winter in the country.
And by season’s end, she owned the best girls indoor mile time in the U.S. in 2017. Her 4:48.29 time broke Cain’s Section 1 record.
After becoming an all-American in cross-country, North Rockland (Thiells, N.Y.) freshman Katelyn Tuohy’s winter track season was full of exclamation points.
“Colleges have made it very clear they’re watching her and paying attention to what she’s doing,” North Rockland coach Brian Diglio said of The Journal News/lohud Rockland County girls indoor track and field athlete of the year.
Katelyn Touhy, North Rockland freshman is the 2016-2017 Journal News Rockland girls winter track athlete of the year, photographed at North Rockland High School in Thiells on Friday, March 24, 2017.
What they’ve seen so far is a kid who doesn’t own a white flag.
That may have been best exemplified in a race she actually didn’t win.
Tuohy finished second at the outdoor State Championships last spring in the 1,500. This winter she led the indoor State 1,500 almost from the start. Caught and passed after the first turn of the last lap, she immediately fought back. Ultimately, her surge fell short as Corning’s Jessica Lawson edged her by .20 to not only claim the title but the U.S. 2017 No. 1 time, with Tuohy No. 2.
That race seemed to reflect what Tuohy is made of both on and off the track.
“Katie doesn’t quit,” Diglio said. “She kept fighting and almost held her off. She really wanted to win and was as upset as I’ve ever seen her. But she answered questions. She didn’t run off crying and dissolve into tears. That was very impressive for a freshman who wanted the title badly.”
Her biggest disappointment was North Rockland’s disqualification at Nationals in the 1,600 sprint medley relay due to a botched handoff.
“I’m confident we could have won the race,” Tuohy said.
A day earlier, though, she, Alex Harris, Sofia Housman and Haleigh Morales earned all-American honors, as North Rockland repeated as New Balance Indoor Nationals’ distance medley relay champion.
She was also on North Rockland’s second-place 4×400 squad at the Millrose Games.
With her name increasingly spoken in the same breath as Cain’s, who turned professional while still a Bronxville High School student, the 15-year-old Tuohy, who has been running and winning since seventh grade, could be cocky. But she said, “Staying humble is a big key in the running world. If someone brags, no one likes them.”
“The great thing about Katie is she understands our philosophy of team first. She prefers that,” Diglio said.
Tuohy credits Harris, who’ll run for Villanova next year, with easing her transition onto North Rockland’s highly successful team.
“She took me under her wing and showed me the ropes — how to practice and how to run races,” Tuohy said. “We run all workouts together. We just push each other to get better.”