Sophomore Katelyn Tuohy has been one of the best runners for the Wolfpack cross country team across her two seasons with the Pack, collecting a host of medals 一 including silver medals in the ACC Cross Country Championships and the NCAA Division 1 Southeast Regionals this past fall.

At the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, she garnered a pair of silver medals in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter races. Finally, she captured gold at the Raleigh Relays March 24-26.

Also among Tuohy’s accolades are three NCAA All-American honors, two All-ACC honors and four All-ACC Academic selections. Her silver in the 2021 Southeast Regionals helped her win All-Region honors. On March 29, 2022, she was named ACC Co-Track performer of the week, showing that even recently she still excels in her sport. She is also the only athlete ever to win Gatorade Athlete of the Year for Cross Country four times, making her the only athlete to do so in any sport.

From New York, it’s Katelyn Tuohy

The New York native has found a home in North Carolina and feels just as comfortable as she did up north.

“When I committed to NC State, I thought it was going to be a big difference coming down south,” Tuohy said. “It hasn’t really been a crazy transition.”

Tuohy was drawn to NC State by its friendliness and family atmosphere.

“I was just looking for a family atmosphere,” Tuohy said. “Where I was going to be happiest, where I was going to be the most successful, that was kind of without a doubt NC State.”

Tuohy also mentioned how appreciative she was of the coaching staff at NC State and knew the distance team was very reputable.

Road to nationals

The NC State women’s cross country team won its first ever NCAA National Championship in 2021. It was ranked first in the nation and finally cashed in for the program’s first championship. Tuohy finished 15th in the event, second for the Pack in that race. The Wolfpack finished second in its previous appearance at NCAAs, so the team had nationals marked on its calendar all year long.

“Winning nationals is definitely a memory I will cherish forever,” Tuohy said. “This year, we were all in, ‘We are winning nationals. That’s our goal.’ We wrote it on our board. It was in our locker room. We saw it everyday.”

The particular event was a 6k race, and Tuohy recorded a time of 19:43.1. This time set a new personal best in the event for her and was a vast improvement from regionals, where she recorded a 20:06.2 in a second-place finish.

Not an individual sport

With lots of conditioning and endurance training, cross country is a physically demanding sport. However, it is just as taxing on the mind and on the athlete’s discipline. Having supportive teammates around at all times helps keep Tuohy motivated and focused.

“At some points it’s very individual, but we really look at it from a team perspective,” Tuohy said. “When you’re on a super competitive team, you could get competitive with each other, but we really just support each other and uplift each other.”

The coaches encourage leading by example by not picking captains for cross country. Tuohy said that everyone has something to offer her and takes something away to add to her training. Motivation is important in any sport, but in cross country, everyone can inspire each other.

“To be good at this sport, you really have to be disciplined”

Cross country is not exactly a fast-paced sport. There are no breaks between innings, halftime, timeouts, or stoppages of play. The athlete must buckle down and run for long periods of time. This takes an enormous amount of discipline.

“It takes a lot of dedication, time, and effort,” Tuohy said. “I think when you’re surrounded by individuals that share the same values as you do… it makes life so much easier.”

Much like wrestling, rifle or swimming, cross country puts a premium on the individual athlete’s training and dedication. However, the team builds each other up and motivates each other to become the best athlete possible. It still comes with a lot of sacrifice, but Tuohy says it’s worth it.

“I would say it’s 100% worth it. Just looking back at this past season, we were able to win nationals as a team,” Tuohy said. “I’m super grateful to be surrounded by girls who also make the sacrifices that you’re willing to make just to have this collective team effort that’s something bigger than yourself.”

During meets, that team culture and shared motivation is even more important. Sometimes there are other teammates in the same heat, but other times there is not. It still comes down to doing your part and supporting each other.

“You know you trust that every single girl is going to give it their best effort and you’re going to return the favor and do everything you can for them,” Tuohy said.

Inspiring the younger generation

All of Tuohy’s achievements have given her a lot of attention both on social media and in the athletic world. Tuohy hopes to inspire a younger generation of runners and represent the team culture she is a part of.

“I definitely do have a lot of attention on social media,” she said. “It’s really cool being able to inspire the younger generation of runners.”

Tuohy mentioned that she gets plenty of messages from high schoolers asking for advice or just to make a comment. Sometimes, she’ll inspire someone even younger.

“Just at indoor track nationals, I finished my race, and I went over to my parents, and there was this little girl who was probably nine or ten years old. She was holding her shoe asking for me to sign it, and she was in awe that I was there and I was talking to her and her dad,” Tuohy said. “They said they drove three hours just to watch me race and how I inspired her to get into running. …I thought that was just super cool. ”

Tuohy was inspired herself by her older brother, Patrick, to get into running and start her cross country journey. She started off with soccer and tried running to get in shape for soccer, but fell in love with track instead. Patrick currently competes at Fordham University in New York.