Let’s give it up for NC State!

This might be the single creepiest thing I’ve seen on this site

Smith shows me he is a classy guy

Yes, a loss at Nuttycombe by 100m and 5th at NCAAs for KT is horrific. You know who she is, right? pretty sure many NCAA titles and NCAA top 5 all time in a number of events then finishing 5th would be considered horrific. She’s had more losses this XC season than the last 2 years combined.

Then this must be your first day on the site…. Welcome

I doubt that the downvotes are from NAU fans. They're probably from Valby & Wiley fanbois that really don't like Tuohy, for whatever reason. More than likely they don't like Touhy fanbois and project it on to Tuohy. Wiley fanbois insert themselves into any discussion about Tuohy.

Anyway, incredible runs by both Valby & NC State today. That was entertaining and what the sport is all about.

Did you ever think that it was Tuohy that "saved" her team, not the other way around?

Sometimes in XC it helps to have a teammate close to them to pull them along. It's akin to the tactics that professional cyclists utilize. I am not suggesting that Tuohy decided not to go after the individual victory just to help her team. It was not her best effort. That said, she did what she needed to do to secure the team victory.

Thought the same thing but, I don't know, she looked pretty good the last couple weeks and it could just be she kind of hit the wall after some nice records...

Why? It's just obvious that a love life can change priorities. I think it's creepy that you can't handle anything but like everyone staying on task. No free thinking

I watch those Rocky movies and he always said no fooling around while training... Eye of the tiger. But yeah I think it's just common sense that if you're falling in love you might not be as competitive

I haven't been able to watch an NCAA Cross Champs since like 2008/2009. Told myself, "Hey, I have a Saturday morning off for first time in years...have access to ESPN...why not?". I have watched 1000's of races from middle school to Olympics, participated in hundreds myself...what I just saw from Parker Valby was incredible. No, incredible isn't the right word. Not sure if...DECIMATING. She tore that field apart. About 800-900meters in it was like, "Bye..." It was like watching the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, chasing down mythical prey. She attacked every hill, every rise, every decline, ran her tangents better, didn't look back, trusted her strengths. I'm not a Parker Valby 'fanboy' per se, since NC State is basically 90minutes from where I live and I root for NC teams in general in collegiate championships...I kind of hoped Tuohy could pull off another title before leaving...but wow...Valby just put on a cross country master class for anyone watching.
And NC State women...wow...I actually thought they wouldn't get it after their #2, Kelsey, was MIA...but they stepped up big time...I mean big time...so props off to them. A 3-peat in any NCAA sport, any division is tough...to keep team members working together for that long...impressive. All that said, a late Saturday morning well spent. Congrats to Ms. Valby and to NC State women. And to all the Tuohy fans...don't hang your head...that girl had an amazing collegiate career, and hopefully will transition well into the next level in time.

There is a video online of Tuohy pretty upset where Henes tells Tuohy 'I can't believe you made it though the race'. She must have been feeling awful. Under normal circumstances Tuohy would not be running 15 seconds slower than she did last year on this course.

Its great that NCst got the 3-peat, but what a bummer to be sick for her final run with the wolfpack, and for Chmiel to be out altogether.

The NC state team really pulled through. Congrats to them.

I saw that video too. Which is surprising, it sounds as though Henes expected her to drop out.

My question is: exactly how sick was Tuohy? Or better yet, why did Henes race an athlete that she was expecting to drop out, due to illness?

I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt, since it’s just one video. But does raise some questions.

lol. It would raise more questions if she refused to race her #1 when she wanted to run, regardless of how sick she was. especially since it was likely the difference between winning the championship and finishing like 5th or something.

It is probably more realistic that she was just saying something encouraging to katelyn to emphasize how proud she was and how great she did to finish 5th.

I'm really impressed with Coach Henes. I could run through brick walls for Harry Groves. I could see myself doing the same for Henes.

It's not clear. Henes also said during her post race interview with reporters that she 'wasn't sure if Tuohy would make it through the race'.

There is another poster on here who said it was 'known' before the race that Tuohy had a 102 degree fever, and also reports of her puking around 3k during the race, but those are just rumors.

I think she raced her because Tuohy wanted to try to run and she needed her to... She ran well enough getting 5th...

Because the team title was on the line. They just threepeated against overwhelming odds. That is why she ran.

I admire KT. She is sick and threw up when she faded to 11th but battled back to fifth. This move had to be very hard to make and it reminds me why I like XC-it is a test of fortitude. The fact that her teammates also stepped up makes it even more special. I would be shocked if her coach didn't praise her after the race and with time, she will appreciate her effort even more (once the disappointment settles).

Looks like she caught a stitch. You can see her grimace and reach for it in the stream.

on an NC State board they are saying Fiona Smith (just won D3 by a minute) is heading there.

Say what you want about Mike Smith but after this meet he was nothing but class.

Northern Arizona coach Mike Smith saw from just after the start that his Lumberjacks were in for a close race with the Wolfpack.
“I knew very early on that we were not in great positioning,” said Smith who resorted to doing a quick count on his own after electronic live results stalled on his phone. “We knew we were going to have a battle on our hands because we didn’t have people in the early positions where we would like them. If you go back and look at the 2K and 3K, not much changed from that point on.”
But Smith was proud of his team’s finish, the highest for Lumberjack women in school history.
“This meet is unlike any other meet,” Smith said. “You can get a false sense of where you are in your performances at other meets in the year. You have to figure out this game and what it takes. For the men’s team [champions the past 3 years and at 6 of the last 7 nationals before this one], we’ve gotten a lot of experience in what it takes on this level. This is a big day for us to be operating like this, but we need some experience operating on this level.”
Smith put best what he and others saw from the Wolfpack on Saturday morning:
“The thing about the team that beat us, they were dealt a massive blow of adversity with one of their top athletes out with an injury, and look how they responded,” he said. “That’s the team we would aspire to be if we could be.”

trackandfieldnews.com

With An Ace Veteran Absent NC State Dug Deep - Track & Field News

Sieg Lindstrom

AFTER SATURDAY’S DRAMATIC NCAA Cross team victory over favored Northern Arizona, NC State coach Laurie Henes found herself at a... Read More

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