Fast Women: Katelyn Tuohy goes pro
Elizabeth Leachman learns from NXN, wins Foot Locker
Issue 269, sponsored by Bakline
Katelyn Tuohy signs with Adidas (again)
For those who have been following Katelyn Tuohy’s career closely, her announcement on Wednesday that she would forgo her remaining NCAA eligibility to go pro was not a major surprise. And her choice of sponsor, Adidas, was the most predictable option. They sponsor NC State’s athletic teams, and Tuohy has had an NIL deal with the company for the past year.
Tuohy, 21, spoke about her decision on an episode of the Citius Mag podcast, released last week. She said she will continue to be coached by her college coach, Laurie Henes, and she will split time between Raleigh, North Carolina, where she currently lives, and at altitude, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tuohy has never trained at altitude before, so she potentially has a lot to gain from adding that to the mix. And two of her former NC State teammates, Elly Henes and Hannah Steelman, are based in Flagstaff.
The timing makes sense for Tuohy, because she’s graduating later this month, one semester early, and because it’s an Olympic year. Now she will be able to focus on peaking for the Olympic Trials at the end of June, rather than being at her best for the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. And though the details of the contract she signed are not public, I’m sure she had some excellent offers, so it makes sense to strike while the iron is hot.
Tuohy isn’t currently a favorite to make the Olympic team. Her 5,000m time from May makes her the 12th-fastest woman in the U.S. this year, but she has a shot. And competing among the pros is more likely to help her make that jump than staying in the NCAA would.
Tuohy leaves NC State with four NCAA individual titles and three team titles. She won the 5,000m at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the 2022 NCAA cross country title, and the 2023 NCAA indoor 3,000m and 5,000m titles. Her last two NCAAs didn’t go as she had hoped. She finished seventh in the 1500m outdoors in June and then opted to scratch from the 5,000m. And she was sick for last month’s NCAA Cross Country Championships, where she finished fifth, but still led her team to its third-straight title.
Sometimes signing with certain brands limits which coaches athletes can work with, but as an Adidas athlete, Tuohy will likely have more flexibility. She has benefited greatly from the team aspect of collegiate running, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see her join forces with other athletes in training, whether she formally joins a team or not. And any time she’s in Flagstaff, she’ll have no shortage of potential training partners.
Tuohy has spent so much of her running career under a microscope that I hope moving to the pro ranks and not being one of the best, at least for a little while, will take some of the pressure off.
Laurie Henes also spoke to Citius Mag about Tuohy’s time at NC State, and that episode is worth a listen, too.
Elizabeth Leachman proves to be a quick study, wins Foot Locker national title
Having learned from her experience at Nike Cross Nationals one week earlier, Texas sophomore Elizabeth Leachman tried a different strategy at Saturday’s Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, and it paid off. She covered the 5K course at San Diego’s Balboa Park in 16:50.7 and earned her first national title. Virginia senior Allie Zealand finished second (17:04.5), and Michigan senior Rachel Forsyth, the early leader, took third (17:08.3).
At NXN in Portland, Oregon, the previous week, Forsyth shot out to the lead, and a couple of minutes into the race, Leachman made a big move to catch her. The two traded surges before Leachman pulled away and built a 14-second lead by 3K. But both ultimately paid for their early aggressiveness as Leachman faded to 15th and Forsyth dropped to fifth.
On Saturday, Forsyth sprinted out to an early lead once again. She went through the first (downhill) half mile in 2:23, already leading by seven seconds. Leachman employed a more conservative strategy this time, still going out quickly, but staying 10 seconds back through the mile. Over the next mile, Leachman began to reel in Forsyth, drawing even with her at the two-mile mark. Forsyth responded and stuck with Leachman for about a quarter mile, until she could no longer hang on.
“I really just tried to focus on what I took away from last week and, you know, letting my emotions get the best of me,” Leachman told Carrie Tollefson after the race. “I just kind of had to trust in the training that I’ve done so far and just trust that I was going to be able to pick it up when I needed to, instead of going out and dying.”
The South region won the team title by putting five runners—Leachman, Zealand (second), Mary Bonner Dalton (fourth), Jayne Halterman (seventh), and Samantha Humphries (eighth) in the top eight.
In an era where major records are falling every weekend, it’s refreshing that Melody Fairchild’s 16:39 Balboa Park record, from 1990, still stands.
After being called the Eastbay Cross Country Championships in 2021 and the Champs Sports Cross Country Championships last year, this event is back to the name it has had since 1993. Jonathan Gault wrote an interesting piece (LetsRun) on the history of the meet and its struggle to remain competitive with NXN. One major thing that Foot Locker has in its favor is the setting. Though San Diego might be a little warm for racing at times, nothing beats a free trip to California, at least for the athletes coming from colder states, in December. (Race replay | Results)
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A European Cross Country three-peat for Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal
Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal dominated at the European Cross Country Championships, held in Brussels, Belgium, winning her third consecutive title. She covered the muddy 9K course in 33:40 and won by 45 seconds.
Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, 23, who was running in the senior race for the first time, ran in third place for much of the race but caught Great Britain’s Abbie Donnelly heading into the final lap of the course. Battocletti pulled away to earn silver in 34:25, and Donnelly earned bronze in 34:42.
Fourth-place finisher Fionnuala McCormack of Ireland missed out on a medal by 18 seconds but had an incredible run. One week after running 2:26:19 at the Valencia Marathon and likely earning a spot on her fifth Olympic team, McCormack, 39, finished fourth. And making her accomplishment all the more impressive, McCormack gave birth to her third child six months ago.
Great Britain’s Megan Keith won the U23 race, running 25:32 for 7K, and Innes Fitzgerald, also of Great Britain, won the U20 race, running 18:19 for 5K. It’s always fun to follow some of the NCAA stars at this meet as well. Greta Karinauskaite of Cal Baptist, who was 17th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, had the best showing, finishing fifth in the U23 race.
I always pay more attention to this event than I otherwise would because the coverage, especially the camera work and video quality, is always excellent. And one of the commentators, Cathal Dennehy, did some good storytelling along the way. There’s always room for improvement, but if anyone is looking to better their coverage of cross country events, the European Cross Country Championships coverage should be the blueprint. (Senior women’s race replay | U23 replay | U20 replay | Results - registration required to view)
Amanda Vestri wins the USATF National Club Cross Country title
ZAP Endurance’s Amanda Vestri took the suspense out of the race at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, going to the front early and staying there. Vestri won the 6K race, held at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida, by 14 seconds, in 20:06.3. Vestri, a recent Syracuse graduate, announced she had signed with ZAP in September, and this was her first pro win. One week ago, she ran 15:21.11 for 5,000m at Boston University’s indoor track, a 21-second personal best.
Claire Green of the Peninsula Distance Club finished second in 20:20.4 and her teammate, Maya Weigel, took third in 20:22.8. Cailie Logue, running unattached, finished fourth (20:28.1) and Kassie Parker of the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project took fifth in 20:36.6. The Peninsula Distance Club put five runners in the top nine, and they dominated the team race with 18 points.
The event also included a masters championship, and the following athletes won their age groups: Carrie Dimoff (40–44, 21:17.6), Jill Braley (45–49, 22:49.0), Karolyn Bowley (50–54, 24:00.4), Rachel Hopkins (55–59, 24:40.1), Suzanne La Burt (60–64, 25:19.8), Nora Cary (65–69, 26:29.6), Jeanette Groesz (70–74, 30:43.7), Jeannie Rice (75–79, 29:31.7), and Myrna Barnett (80–84, 46:44.8). (Results)
Other News and Links
Katelyn Tuohy wasn’t the only NCAA champion to announce she had signed an Adidas contract last week. Michaela Rose, the reigning NCAA outdoor 800m champion, has signed an NIL deal with the brand. Rose, 20, has a personal best of 1:59.08 and will remain at LSU for now.
Two CU athletes, Karrie Baloga and Natalie Cook, made an appearance at Foot Locker Nationals over the weekend, in conjunction with the announcement that both have signed NIL deals with HOKA, the event’s sponsor. Baloga, last year’s Foot Locker champion, is finishing up her first semester at CU, but she might not remain there for long, as she has reportedly entered the transfer portal.
While it’s very common to use marathons as a fundraising tool, I can’t say I remember any competitors fundraising in conjunction with the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, until now. Qualifier Rosa Moriello announced last week that she has teamed up with the Orlando Youth Alliance (OYA) to raise money for the organization throughout her buildup. OYA’s mission is to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth in Central Florida, and you can contribute to Moriello’s fundraising here.
A correction: Last week, I wrote that Ava Nuttall, who finished third at CIM in 2:35:09, finished her eligibility at Miami University last spring. But it turns out her TFRRS profile was inaccurate, because she has two. In October, she finished 13th at the MAC Cross Country Championships, and in November, she finished 24th at the NCAA DI Great Lakes Regional. Now I’m curious how marathon-specific her training was and how many other NCAA athletes could have hopped into CIM and qualified for the Trials.
Vanessa Fraser said that though she has qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials, she won’t be racing in Orlando. Instead, she plans to focus on getting into PR shape in the 5,000m in 2024. I think a number of women who qualified for the Trials won’t be lining up in Orlando, simply because the timing isn’t right. I’m guessing the field is likely to be closer to 150 runners than the 173 who qualified. (I’m hoping USATF decides to shoot for a field closer to 200 runners in 2024, and I’d love to see the qualifying standard go from 2:37:00 to 2:38:00. Unfortunately I don’t have any say in the matter.)
NCAA champion Parker Valby lent her name and time to the Parker Valby Holiday Mile, held at her former high school in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The event raised funds for a local chapter of Girls on the Run, and it’s great to see a young runner using her celebrity for good.
Allyson Felix recently made an appearance on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, where she called for implicit bias training and policy change to improve outcomes for Black women giving birth in America.
Deena Kastor gave a TEDx Talk on the power of joy.
Alli (Cash) Smith announced that she’s pregnant with her first child, who is due in May.
Additional Results
Nikki Hiltz won the Merrie Mile, a road mile that accompanies the Honolulu Marathon, in 4:29. Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took second in 4:30, and Weini Kelati, who usually races the longer distances, had an impressive showing in third (4:31). This race uses an equalizer format to determine the prize money. The athletes competing in the women’s category got a 30-second head start this year, but they were unable to hold off the men. The top four athletes across the line earned prize money, and Hiltz was fifth by a fraction of a second. The men have won every edition of this race so far, and I hope that means the athletes in the women’s field will get a little more of a head start next year, especially because it’s pretty widely recognized that a 4:30 mile for women is tougher than a 4:00 mile for men. But the main point of this race for most of the pros seems to be getting a free trip to Hawaii to end their year. (Results)
Kenya’s Cynthia Limo won the Honolulu Marathon in 2:33:01. (Results) Molly Seidel was a late addition to the 10K field and she won with room to spare, in 32:35. (Results)
Jeralyn Poe won the Tucson Half Marathon by more than 11 minutes, in 1:12:12. (Results)
One day after winning her age group at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, 75-year-old Jeannie Rice ran 1:41:53 at the Jacksonville Half Marathon, which is faster than the age-group record she already holds. Another age-group standout, Roberta Groner, 45, won the race in 1:12:56, and Regan Rome finished second in 1:13:08. According to the link above, Ethiopia’s Atsede Tesema was the first woman to cross the finish line, but she was disqualified for making a wrong turn near the end of the race. Assuming that’s accurate, I’m curious why she is still listed as the third-place finisher in the results.
A pair of women who have served doping bans won marathons over the weekend: Kenya’s Ruth Jebet, an Olympic gold medalist in the steeplechase, won the International Mersin Marathon by more than five minutes, in 2:23:08. And Mary Akor won Mexico’s Baja California Marathon in 2:41:47.
Ririka Hironaka won the Japanese 10,000m title in 30:55.29.
Additional Podcasts
On Lactic Acid with Dominique Smith, Emily Mackay discussed finding out she was on the Pan Am Games team after she had already planned a series of off-season trips. She kept her travel schedule, but she had to train while she was on vacation. And she said it was nerve-wracking to race a 1500m with only a month of base training behind her. She also said it was a relief to learn in her first year of professional running that she can run at the level she wants to while still having balance in her life. “I think that if I were to make more sacrifices, then I might be less happy and therefore not perform as well,” she said.
St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith talked about winning the NCAA DIII Cross Country title on DIII Glory Days. Smith will use her remaining NCAA eligibility at NC State next year while she gets a masters degree in math. She’ll be able to compete for the Wolfpack for the entire 2024–25 academic year.
On I’ll Have Another, Grayson Murphy said she thinks the landscape of sponsorships is starting to change because Instagram is an unreliable place to market things, because creators don’t have a lot of control over how well their posts do, thanks to the algorithm. She said she’s losing three sponsors at the end of this year, despite running as well as ever. She also discussed a similar topic on For the Long Run.
Tammy Hsieh talked about running 2:37:00 at the California International Marathon and narrowly qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on The Rambling Runner.
Molly and Izzy Seidel have launched a podcast called I Hate My Thoughts and it’s getting better with each episode. It seems to only be available on Spotify.
More Episodes: Neely Spence Gracey on Women’s Running Stories | Mary Kate Shea, elite athlete coordinator for the Boston Marathon, on Nobody Asked Us | Josette and Robby Andrews on Talking in Ovals (from last month) | Trail runner Rachel Drake talked about qualifying for the Trials at CIM on The Rambling Runner | Olivia Markezich on The Running Effect | Tennessee’s Ashley Jones, who lost both her father and her arm when she was 14, told some of her story on The Running Effect | Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Emma Huston on The Run Around Iowa
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Alison