I'm of a different opinion than you guys on this one. I think she was fit and confident on starting line. Just went out way, way too fast. It's like first 100- 14 sec, 200- 30 sec, 400 -64 sec.
A 2:12 at 800 and 3:03 at 1100 aren't a problem, it's just how front fast she arrived at those splits. You can see this by the giant (and useless) lead on lap 2.
I doubt that fast start was the race plan; happened by accident as she wanted a clean trip to avoid bump ride of semi.
If there really is an 'issue', she should skip usatf, but I think you will see her healthy in July in Eugene in the 5000.
What race has she run this season though that tells you she is in 4:24 mile shape still? I can't point to any. The prelim was concerning too. These other women beating her are not (all) 4:24 milers.
I'll just add when I look at the splits I dont see a huge issue for 4:24 miler, unless the heat and wind were a bigger factor than I think. I get 15.6/ 32 in 47.9 for 300m.
She ran almost exactly the same early splits at ACC dmr - 32, 64.9, 1:38 600m, 2:11.9 800m, 3:18 1200m, etc. So, paces she has run before but she couldn't keep it up here. Was it the heat? Wind? Illness? Fitness? I don't know, but it's concerning when taken together with her other races this season and especially this result.
I hope that she recovers for USATF and they figure out what has been going wrong. And can right the ship. It will be hot there too and she needs to be able to kick to place well in a race like that, let alone make the team.
What race has she run this season though that tells you she is in 4:24 mile shape still? I can't point to any. The prelim was concerning too. These other women beating her are not (all) 4:24 milers.
Touhy ran acc 2022 4:06, indoor '23 4:06, 4:24, 4:23, indicating over a roughly 1 yr period that she is a reliable 4:06/4:24 runner.
She backed that up with a 4:08/ 15:03 outdoor season. I just see a 4:08 as within the standard deviation for a 4:06 runner, not the disaster most posters overanalyze into that race. Heck every NCAA and usatf entrant has a bigger deviation than 2 seconds between season best and season worst. That 4:08 also ended up #2ncaa and would have won the final.
The irony of Wake Forest is they were practicing going out fast with the rabbit and she 'slipped' to 4:08 with fading last 100 to Piccarillo, so they knew she paid a price for opening too quick. I actually think she could stroll down to the track in Raleigh already this Friday evening and run a 66 66 66 66 4:24 time trial.
What will always eat at Touhy on this loss was that there were only 2 ways she could lose: a slow race getting outkicked, or going out too fast and dying. She hand delivered option 2. That shocked me as she was tactically savvy in qualifying, easily dealing with boxes and although unhappy in semi final, handling the bumpy ride to qualify easily.
So I love 3:03 at 1100m, just would have preferred 51 66 66 than 48 67 68. Crazy thing is had Touhy slipped to only 4:07, 4:08, even 4:08.5, she still would have won. Anyway congratulations to Ramsden, she ran a beautiful race. Her 4:08.60 pr was not evidenced either during the outdoor season, but she's now champ and a 4:08 lady.