How did Parker Valby upset Katelyn Tuohy at the Nuttycombe Invitational?
Track and Field is a sport where we really only pay attention to the athletes in first place, particularly when they are far ahead of whoever is in second. Katelyn Tuohy has been doing that for the better part of the past decade in almost any race that she enters. In fact, she became the gatorade high school athlete of the year in 2018, for every single sport, not just track and field! So it is safe to say that she made people care about distance running who never paid attention before. As a result, it was expected that in her final year of college competition she would dominate the NCAA, as she did all throughout 2022 and 2023. But then something crazy happened, in her first race of this season. Katelyn Tuohy got beaten at her own game.
Katelyn dominated the field at the Nuttycombe invitational by more than 20 seconds like she always does. But Parker Valby of the University of Florida was even better. She beat Katelyn by more than 10 seconds who had not lost a cross country race since 2021. The truth is that Katelyn Tuohy vs. Parker Valby is as close to must see tv as you are going to ever get in distance running. It is a rivalry that has brewing for practically their entire college careers. And they are expected to give us the biggest cross country race of the decade at the NCAA championship meet, even if most sports fans likely won’t be watching.
Is Katelyn Tuohy the greatest amateur runner ever?
When you are watching history get made in real time, it is rare to notice it until the moment has already passed. I knew Katelyn Tuohy was good, way back at the high school level, because I briefly coached against her, believe it or not in her high school region. Back then I tried to explain to my high school runners just how good she actually was. She was actually named the Gatorade female player of the year for every single sport! Competing against her on a track in high school was basically the equivalent of going up against LeBron James. So it was no surprise that when she got to college, she figured out how to win again. She broke collegiate records on the track, and won the NCAA outdoor 5K in 2022. Which kicked off a stretch where she went the next 2 full seasons of races through cross country and indoor track going undefeated in every competition she entered.
Parker Valby is the the only competition for Katelyn Tuohy
However when Katelyn won the Cross Country national championship in 2022, the woman in second was Parker Valby. Although she was technically the first loser, she only lost by 3 seconds. In fact, when Katelyn won her first NCAA championship in the 5K outdoors, it was Parker Valby who finished right behind her in second once again. And when Katelyn uncharacteristically underachieved at the NCAA outdoor meet in 2023, it was Parker Valby instead who won the national title, in her signature event instead.
Parker Valby is nothing like Katelyn Tuohy, at least on paper. Although she was great in high school, she wasn’t technically the fastest girl in cross country, for her home state of Florida coming out of high school. That is being compared to a woman who was named the greatest high school athlete in all of America, when she was still as sophomore! Parker chose to run for the Florida Gators, who are an amazing track team, but historically uncompetitive in distance events. When she ran at the NCAA championships for cross country she always did it as an individual. Unlike track and field, when an individual runner qualifies nobody hardly ever takes them seriously. Almost everyone in the race is running with their team, the best 7 women they have to compete for a national title. That is because the best runners typically run for the best distance running teams. Which is why individual runners are of little concern. Parker showed up in 2021 and 2022 competing for Florida, literally by herself. She finished 27th, and then 2nd in the entire nation when she did. As a former college cross country coach, I know for a fact how insanely hard it is for a distance runner to train at a high level, much less compete by themselves! Katelyn on the other hand runs for the greatest distance running powerhouse in the entire nation, a team that was already top 5 in the NCAA before she ever joined the team.
The Nuttycombe Invitational
At the Nuttycombe Invitational Parker beat Katelyn at her own game. They both dusted the field, but she ran away from Katelyn to prove that she had what it takes to not only win that race, but the NCAAs themselves. What Parker has done is turn the NCAA championships which is a race for a team title, into a meet that now has an even more compelling storyline. Can a woman, who wasn’t even the best in her state coming out of high school, who runs for a team that is honestly so bad at cross country they can’t even qualify for the NCAAs anyway; beat the greatest distance runner of her entire generation straight up for a national title?
It is still uncertain how the championship meet will play out. But there will probably never be another race like it again. Simply put, nobody is ever as good as Katelyn Tuohy has been for the past half decade. And nobody gets as good with all the odds stacked against them, as Parker Valby has already done. This year the transfer portal has brought Parker a team that can actually show up to the race with her! You don’t have to pay attention, and distance running may not be your thing. But trust me, you are missing out on a once in a generation rivalry between two of the best to ever do it, and we may never get to see anything like it again.
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