Cross country is just one of the many underrated sports in America. There aren’t any races or events that are televised as heavily as football games. Even if they pick up air time, the only running events televised would be marathons. Marathons aren’t even part of cross country.
While cross country isn’t the most popular sport in America, it has some of the most talented and hardworking athletes, like Katelyn Tuohy. Not only does she run cross country, but she also competes in both indoor and outdoor track and field as a distance runner for NC State.
Tuohy is merely a young 21-year-old, but she is one of the most decorated runners in collegiate athletics and has turned the heads of those in the running world.
While I’m not overly involved with running, and I don’t really know that much about the sport, I can tell you that based on her awards alone, she is one of the best runners and decorated athletes the NCAA has ever seen.
Tuohy is a ten-time All-American, five-time NCAA East Regional Qualifier— three times in the 5000m and twice in the 1500m—nine-time All-ACC, seven-time All-ACC Academic, and six-time USATFCCCA All-Academic.
On top of all of those performance-based accomplishments, she also has won four individual national championships— two in indoor track (3000m and 5000m) and two in cross country— while also leading the Wolfpack to back-to-back-to-back national championships for cross country.
Tuohy has had a dominant career over her three and a half years at NC State. She’s won countless other awards, with many naming her the Female Athlete of the Year.
In most recent news, Tuohy announced her decision to go pro and sign a professional contract with Adidas, a brand she’s already had an NIL deal with since November of 2022.
However, this news shouldn’t come as a surprise. With Tuohy’s personal bests being as scorching as they are, it makes sense that she’d ink a deal with one of the top running shoe brands in the world.
In just the 1,500m alone, she runs a 4:06.49. In the mile, she runs a 4:24.26. In the 3K, a 8:35.20. In the 5K a 15:14.61, and a 32:56.75 for 10K.
While she is still young, Tuohy has a very long career ahead of her. If she can keep up the pace she is running at right now, I’d expect nothing less for her to become a dominant international runner.
With the 2024 Paris Olympics next summer, I’d expect Tuohy’s name to pop up as a front-runner for the distance events. The future is very bright for Katelyn Tuohy.
