Can KT Tuohy frontrun her way to a 1500 Championship? And then Double back for a 5k Title?

Thanks, but it still has a very bad echo in it; maybe my phone is not the best.

Compare it with the coaches press conference here:

It's this ^, Touhy just too slow to get to the corner first. In all 3 heats Touhy didn't make the corner. In heat 1 she got lucky the friendly competitors left the lane open for her and in heats 2 & 3 she spit out the back and did the loop around.

There are positives in this. I'd rather see a runner do the smooth loop around than do an all out sprint to make the corner, as that sprint has you red lining already on lap1, which you might pay for later, especially in heat and humidity. Touhy clearly is also not panicked in this scenario, comfortable in last and handling the box out concern smoothly.

Key as others have also pointed out is that she gets to the front evenly by 700-800 meters and can hit 1100 in 3:00-3:03.

This shouldn't be hard to do though, as quite remarkably all 11 other competitors would prefer a slow race. In heat 2, which yes was slow, all 5 Q's closed in 61!, with Ramsden and Jepkurui laying some cards on the table. With no Touhy in this final, a 4:19 win with a 59 close would have been probable.

That is right - Howell is as quick in the first 100 as anyone and if she gets the lead the first thing she does is slow it dow.

Maybe Tuohy is just trying to be like Hassan... How often does Hassan go out fast right away? She is always running in the back of the pack (or at least the back of the lead pack) and slowly moving up. Hassan has perfected this, not sure if Tuohy has - so she might want to start in the middle to give her a better chance if she misjudges things.

A factor in the semi is that you are trying to qualify while also trying to save something for the final. So that meant being willing to run a slower pace, which left her open to getting impeded and to the fact that several competitors have very good final lap kicks. If she can get to the front and get the rail by 700 meters I think she can pull away. But if I am her competitors they will try to disrupt her, impede her, jostle to throw off her stride. They will try to deny her a clean trip.

She was at the front (Barnett's shoulder) by 700m in this race. Her real problem was her final 200m. From what I can tell, it was slower than the first 200m on the bell lap and 3 runners passed her.

But again she got to the bell lap at 3:05. Her target should be 3:01-02 for the final.

Tuohy lost some momentum when she let O'Sullivan cut in on her with 150ish to go.

Ok I do see that. I slow moed it and O sullivan has not even a stride ahead when she moved into Tuohy's lane. Looks like she cut her off and it broke Tuohy's stride. I guess that is still legal but not great. But, O Sullivan still had more juice to power away towards the line

She is going to have to be very wary of OSullivans tactics in the final

I am concerned because all of the NC State women are running this way. I had thought that maybe they were saving it all for NCAA's, but none of them seem to have it in the post season. What the heck is going on there?

I thought Tuohy looked bad last night. There is a difference in the 4:14 she ran just to qualify at regionals where she looked smooth and relaxed, and the race she ran last night. Yes, she qualified and got the job done, but she was not in control of that race. That seemed to come as a surprise to her, like she was not aware she would have that much competition. If we knew it, shouldn't she have?

I am still optimistic that she will regroup by Saturday and come out guns blazing, because after all she is Katelyn Tuohy, but I am nervous for her. I think she could pull off the double, but I also think it is possible that she comes out of this meet with no title. If you are Parker Valby, wouldn't you feel emboldened by watching that prelim? If you are Plourde and starting the final lap of the 1500 and realizing you weren't going to factor in, wouldn't you hang it up and save it for the 5000?

She is going to have to run a fast 1500 to have any chance to win, and then she is going to have to face some sharks in the 5000 that have just tasted blood. She looks flat. Like something is wrong. All of the NC State women are running flat - that is what makes me worried for her. I hope this turns around Saturday. I would really love for her to pull this off, but after last night she seems vulnerable.

I more or less agree with all of this, she seems off. The whole NCst team seems off. Its been a concern this outdoor season. Except maybe Tyynismaa in the 5k? (But Tyynismaa also blew up the last lap in every 5k she ran during outdoors).

Tuohy will put the hammer down at the right time. No worries.

The coach sucks. She is the best recruiter in the NCAA though. Tuohy looks done and she seemed out of it in her interview.

Re Tyynismaa I meant last lap of her 1500's (her 5ks were all pretty good).

For those thinking she can wait till 700m to take the lead I just want to point out that the top 4 in Heat 2 closed in 2:06, and Jepkirui closed in2:05.89.

To me, Allie Hays is the reason for the concern. She only had outdoor elgibility this year, so no xc or indoor. She should be fresh, even if the others have had a long year. She had a great 10K at the beginning of the season, and then it has been downhill from there. It just seems like whatever they did to train for outdoors has not worked well at all - having the opposite effect of making them slower. Not one of them has the edge they had 3 months ago, including Tuohy.

This shows just how competitive the field is. I would say Goldstein and Jepkurui only ones in field with no chance to win, yet as you point out Jepk closed in 2:05 61.

I just think if Touhy runs 3:03 63 4:06, Jepkurui with her 4:12 pr won't be closing this race in 61.