Tuohy is indeed a generational talent. She first emerged in the public eye nearly ten years ago in seventh grade when she immediately started breaking national age group records. Coming up in the powerful NY State scene she became the dominant runner in her region as a sophomore. She completely dominated national cross country in 2017, '18 and '19, winning NXN all three years. KT is without argument the greatest girl cross runner of all time. During the same time on the track her only competitor in the record books was Mary Cain.
Her transition to college was rough, running her first freshman race in the postponed 2020 NCAA champs where she was 25th and first freshman in. She was 9th in '21, individual champion in '22 and 5th in '23, leading the Pack to three consecutive NCAA D1 champs. During this period she set all time collegiate records in the indoor 15, 3000 and 5000 and the outdoor 5000, all of which still stand. By the way, when Parker dragged herself across the line in the NCAA indoor 3000 in 8:41, the second fastest collegiate indoor 3000 ever, she was still six seconds short of Katelyn's record. In 2023 she won the ACC 10000 title in her only attempt at that distance. Her 5th in the 2023 XC was still a huge factor in the Pack taking the team title for the three-peat.
Now she is embarking on another difficult transition, to the pros. Katelyn has always held the long view, even though staying firmly focused on her short term goals. Her first Olympic year, in my opinion is 2028 when she will be 26. She is an extremely tough, disciplined, and motivated person who is expanding her brand into healthy products like specialty granola and Olipop, a unique and interesting probiotic soda. The LAST thing she would do is get mixed up in doping. She also has over 110,000 Instagram followers, many of whom have been fans since they were tweenies. I have heard interviews with Natalie, Leachman, Englehardt and others who cite her as a great inspiration. Now tell me, name some other cross and track athlete in the last 20 years who has accomplished as much from middle school to post-grad. Katelyn is the definition of the Generational Runner.