Do not hijack this by asking about someone other than Katelyn Touhy or NC State. This all NC State, all the time. No other runners or teams should bother getting a mention.
This part about the Wolfpack of 4 stalking KT is really freaking me out (Semihaze: please send for help!) I can see each athlete doing their best to win individually - sure but what kind of dynamic on a team would cause them to work together to defeat her? If that were really true then yikes!! Transfer Portal it is! Arkansas, BYU, Stanford, and even some of the teams that contend for Track championships but not necessarily XC like Florida, Texas. An all out NIL death match to get KT on their team - LOL!!
I'm not saying it's personal. It is a good strategy for them. But I don't see how that won't generate hard feelings. Just saying. I have lived as a moderately competitive female on this planet for 4 decades. From my experience when a group of competitive women are going for the same individual goal (only one can win), and they say that it's "so not competitive" and they are really really rooting for each other - that rarely turns out to be the case. I cannot think of one single time in my life that has turned out to be entirely true. I just don't buy that they are happily training these next 2 weeks with no thoughts of taking each other down or no extra tension. If any of the other 4 are in striking distance of Touhy they will go for her because it's a high stakes competition. My whole point was that if they work together and one of them beats her, her coach encouraged her to help it happen and she would be justified in feeling a little upset (I think hitting the transfer portal would be extreme). I just see how track season could be a tough time for the "team first" mantra that NC State women talk of. There is no team competition here. It's every woman for herself, but the 5 of them have to train together to compete against each other and that seems complicated. Maybe it's not.
KT is academically a sophomore, not a junior. 2020-21 was her first year at NC state and this was her second
Katelyn is in her second year of college but she is NOT academically a sophomore.
you go to the list of ACC All-Academic list and she is listed as a JUNIOR.
you go to CoSIDA Academic All-District list and she is listed as a JUNIOR.
other than her roommates Claire and Jenna, Katelyn seems to be always hanging out with Sam Bush who is the true JUNIOR. They are both Business Administration majors, they are probably also classmates!
Katelyn and Kelsey are the only wolfpack women who were named in the 2021-22 CoSIDA Academic All-District list which recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletic competition and their GPA.
+++ Kelsey is on her third year at NC State, she should be academically a junior, but she's not, she already graduated. Same for Katelyn, she will graduate on her third year at NC State, next year.