The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472609
JULY/AUGUST 2022 ■ 49 "She's one of the hardest workers I've ever been around," coach Laurie Henes said "She's a great teammate, she trusts her coaches, she trusts the process. She always believed, even when she wasn't running, that she would be back. She really had the ability to put her head down and get things done." Tuohy went on to place second in both the 3,000 and the 5,000 at indoor nationals. Though she was disappointed to finish as runner-up, those races set the stage for her championship effort at the outdoor meet. "The breakthrough performances for her this year were the two second-place indoor finishes," Henes said. "That's where she realized, 'I'm really in con- tention for the win here.' "That was a huge breakthrough, and this was the first time she had gone into a national meet as the favorite. She'd done so much of that in high school, but this was the first time she had gone into it as the favorite collegiately. She handled it really well." As she rounded the track at Oregon's Hayward Field, Tuohy said she felt she was right where she needed to be throughout the 5,000-meter race. "I'm pretty comfortable running hard from the front," she said. "With right around 600 meters to go, I looked up and saw Taylor Roe behind me, and I knew she had a good kick. I figured if I could open up a little bit of a gap, maybe I could hold it till the end. That's when I decided to make my move." Tuohy said that after pulling ahead, she expected Roe to chase her down, making the final lap a close battle. "I was waiting for her to make a similar move," she said, " but it never hap- pened." Valby finished second in 15:20.10, nearly two seconds off Tuohy's pace, while Roe was third in 15:24.41. The owner of national high school records in the mile, indoor 3,000 and indoor 5,000, among other accomplish- ments, Tuohy said that her victory at NCAAs felt like vindication — not just for her, but for the many elite women athletes who come to feel as though their high school success turns burden- some when they get to college. "You hear about it all the time: good high school female athletes not being able to progress in college as much as people expect them to," said Tuohy, whose time at outdoor nationals was third-fastest in meet history. "I don't want to say it's a curse or whatever peo- ple want to call it. But you definitely have that in the back of your mind when things aren't going too well. "We joke around in practice that I'm still known as the kid who was good in high school. While high school was su- per important, I hope future genera- tions see that you can do well after high school, collegiately. "It wasn't easy, for sure. But if there are any young girls watching out there, keep grinding. … Don't listen to what anyone says. Just do what you do and have fun. That's the most important thing. Have fun." ■