The 2023 NCAA Cross Country National Championship meet is over, and Graham Blanks proved me right by winning the men’s individual title representing Harvard. But Oklahoma State did what we knew they could, in knocking off NAU to end their streak of back to back national titles. However the women’s race is where all the action really went down. Even cross country has upsets, because Lipscomb University finished 11th overall,  and they were ranked 25th heading into the meet. The only logical reason for that is because they are in the Atlantic Sun conference.

In regards to the women’s individual title Katelyn Tuohy shockingly did not win, and she didn’t even get second place. Meanwhile Parker Valby proved that she was as good as she looked at the Nuttycombe Invitational. In fact she is even better. The truth is that we just witnessed a coronation and a passing of the torch all at the same time. It is true that Katelyn Tuohy didn’t win the individual race, but there’s a good reason why she didn’t. The full story only makes her legacy even greater. Meanwhile, the way Parker Valby ran away from everybody else, should take away any doubt that both of them are in a league of legends, all by themselves. 

What “really” happened to Katelyn Tuohy

First things first, I have to address the elephant in the room. Katelyn Tuohy losing a cross country race in college is a very rare occurrence. It has only happened twice since the year 2021. Both times she lost since then, it was Parker Valby who crossed the line in first. This loss however is different because it is supposed to be Katelyn’s final NCAA championship in cross country. So everyone expected her to win the race outright. However, at least a third of the way into the race, she clearly didn’t look like herself. Parker Valby took off from the pack and Katelyn was not able to respond. 

Katelyn Tuohy eventually held on for fifth place, without ever having a chance to beat Parker. Which by her standards is incredibly disappointing. It also seemed that the team title hopes for NC State were over at that point, because it was common knowledge that the rest of their team was incredibly banged up heading into the national meet. Their second placed finisher at the ACC championship meet was Kelsey Chmiel and she didn’t even race in the NCAA meet. But NC State was going for their third straight national title, and they needed every single point that Katelyn gave them in order to do it. When the dust settled they beat Northern Arizona by 1 point, 123 to 124. Furthermore, it was only after the race that NC State’s head coach let it be known that Katelyn was sick heading into the race. So sick in fact, that even she thought she might not finish across the line at all. So in reality, Katelyn Tuohy could have taken the easy route and simply not run, to preserve her legacy. But she chose to put it all on the line literally, and gutted out a race that literally won a National Championship. Not not necessarily for her, but for the entire team!

Moments like this in sports are reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s flu game. The only reason it mattered is because without it, the Bulls wouldn’t have won the 1997 NBA championship. Nobody cared that he was sick, because we saw Michael on the court, which meant he was supposed to do what only he could. Katelyn Tuohy has won more championships than any distance runner of her generation. She is also a track star who was America’s greatest high school girls athlete as a sophomore. But now she can say she has done almost the exact same thing at the NCAA championships. She turned a moment when nobody could have blamed her for letting it pass her by, into arguably her greatest achievement.

Parker Valby’s rise as Queen of college distance running

After all that, the individual women’s title was never really in doubt. Parker Valby won the national championship going wire to wire as the leader by more than 50 meters for the majority of the race. She has now won NCAA titles back to back in 2023 between outdoors and cross country. Which begs the question, where does she fall amongst the best to ever do it. Keep in mind that Parker already beat Katelyn, on a day where Katelyn ran away from the entire field earlier this season! That was the only other time that the defending national champion had lost a race on any course in almost 2 years. To be the best, you have to also beat the best. That is exactly what Parker has done now, more than once.

It is unclear where she falls amongst the greatest collegiate runners of all time. But Parker Valby wasn’t even the fastest girl in her home state several years ago. And for most of her career she has run for a team at Florida that couldn’t even join her at the NCAA cross country championships until now. Yet she belongs on the list of all-time college greats.  She isn’t just a champion. She has now accomplished it multiple times. For those who watched her do it in this race, it was clear that everyone else was only invited to the meet, essentially to watch her run. They actually had to watch from pretty far away. Of course, she’s not the first to do that, and she probably won’t be the last. But right now it’s time we appreciate everything we just witnessed. Because the only other woman around in this generation who was ever this good in college cross country is also an NCAA champion right now.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, RUN GOOD.

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