Katelyn Tuohy’s season over

the only benefit of a 200 would be 1) work on turnover and a kick... but more importantly address the issue of racing hard when losing. Learning to compete.

Wejo, I think it may be time for the chief click-bait officer to step back and let you moderate this one. Clean it up and lock it down, maybe? It's really not contributing much to the age-old, unpleasant debate about whether to care about the message we send to girls. (Dr. Taboo, the issue is less about attacking one person and more about the message you are sending to thousands of young readers. You understand subtleties that many of them won't. You also may have a blind spot with respect to how psychology and culture interact with seemingly harmless conversations about body weight.)

This has to be one of the most creepy of the many creepy threads by Americans obsessing over the weight and performance of a teenage girl athlete.

I looked through the qualifying times for the Worlds this year and for a country of 327 million people, they are dismal. Scotland has more top women, out of our 5.4 million. Laura Muir was not a top junior, she was a keen runner who began to train hard when she went to university and improved each year. Most coaching is Scotland is relatively low key at the junior stages, disciplined and correct yes, but not frenzied about immediate results for young athletes.

What does it matter what a 17 year old athlete does this year, the next and the year after, if she is going to be an Olympic hopeful at 24 or 25? All that she needs to be doing is training lightly, racing, having friends with her peers and stressing her body enough that it improves but not so much that it breaks down.

The US collegiate system seems crazy. It certainly doesn't seem to work at producing as many top athletes as that 327 million population would suggest. The athletes that do well must be real survivors.

I cannot believe the awful comments on here of people who claim to be coaches about athletes' weight and their interference in their athletes' daily lives at such a young age. Nor the comments on this thread, of all threads, about transgender athletes (who face completely different physical challenges, lack of breast being just one of them!). And the general obsessing over the appearance of a teenage girl, which seems to be a regular feature. Its so inappropriate! Yes, even in Scotland, we had these idiot coaches who think any female runner must be tall, blonde and lean, but thankfully we also have a lot of sensible, good coaches in it for long term athletic improvement, who realise that the world championships are full of different body shapes, which respond differently to different types of training and that the finished Olympic product will look a lot different from a 17 year old.

The thread was deleted but now has been retored and you have to be registered to post.

Email me directly or report any post you want us to review.

I think people having honest discussions about girls in puberty if done right should benefit them so that's why I'm leaving the thread up for now. If I'm wrong, email me.

Tuohy is still one of the very best if not the best high school runner in the country so people need to have perspective. She had a very good season.

coach24391 wrote:

the only benefit of a 200 would be 1) work on turnover and a kick... but more importantly address the issue of racing hard when losing. Learning to compete.

Merely competing in the 200 does not make someone faster. I don't know if it's possible, but maybe some serious weight training would make her sprint faster, but it would go away once she resumed distance training.

You're suggestion would cost her a year of training, the possibility of setting more records and the option of going pro.

Wejo I salute you for getting rid of the riff raff. Touhy is a once in a lifetime talent. Rivaled only by a young Mary Decker. She shouldn’t be training like she is a typical high school kid . She needs to go pro and make the Olympics and WIN. She has nothing to prove in high school. Anyone who doesn’t think the elite monitor their weight is crazy .

Dr Try Hard wrote:

She had also whined about cross-country being a no-cut sport. Honestly, she really doesn't seem to have the best interests of her student-athletes foremost in her mind. She reminds me of one of those crazy HS coaches that squeezes all they can out of athletes for personal glory. Honestly, a cross country coach wanting to DECREASE participation in cross country, but also claim to be concerned about helping her obese athletes lose weight? inconsistent and frankly, a bit insane

I wasn't going to respond to these ridiculous, hyperbolic and hysterical comments, but this last one is absolutely moronic. Firstly, I don't whine about anything and I never said anything about wanting to DECREASE participation in XC, you seem to have a problem with reading comprehension and complex thought processes. My issue with XC as a no cut sport is that it puts too much pressure on the casual runner that is just looking for an extracurricular activity that involves running. Our girls team is highly competitive and they are very close. That competitive environment puts a lot of pressure on some girls who want to be a part of that. Here's where you need to pay attention. My issue is with telling girls that they have a shot at making varsity when they clearly don't. Telling them that weight doesn't matter and if they just work hard they will be fine, is a lie and they soon find that out. This is where it becomes problematic because that girl will lose trust, close off the dialog and go stealth in trying to lose weight and self train to make the team. This is a real issue and I use my education and experience in this field to find solutions with the full support and confidence of the the school, school board and parents.

Many kids feel left out, even on a no cut team, so I started an after school run club that has been extremely popular. The program is designed as a no pressure alternative to competitive XC and is open to anyone. "Anyone" includes parents, faculty or members of the community. It's just a fun program with healthy living, fun and yes WEIGHT LOSS as the primary goals. We had around 100 girls on our XC team prior to the program and that number has shifted to around 40 running competitive XC and we have around 90 (total participants from all groups) in the run club. Again, the goal was not to DECREASE participation, rather, it was to identify the needs of student athletes and find a viable solution that INCREASES overall participation from the community.

So, I don't just "claim" to be concerned about helping obese athletes, I've dedicated my life and career to it. My mother died from diabetes when I was 12 years old. You wonder why someone chooses to become an endocrinologist of all specialties, well, that's why. We have a childhood obesity problem because everyone is afraid of tackling the issue head on. People like you run scared at the thought of open dialog. Get with the program, no one is putting children at risk or making weight loss recommendations for frivolous reasons. You strike me as a person that would be just fine with his daughter asking for a gym membership because she wanted to drop 5 pounds for prom. I'd much prefer a girl come to me and ask me how to increase their competitive edge in XC because they want to make Footlocker, than how to look better in her prom dress. However, if a kid comes to me and wants to lose weight for any reason, I have the training, coaching and medical expertise to know whether that's a good idea or not and the best way to help them do so safely.

If you don't like that... too bad!

I join you in my sincere hope that your children will NEVER have to meet me.

watch her interviews wrote:

she said in her interviews that next year she will be taking a much easier course load next year and that this year was particularly hard because she loaded up on APs. She also just took AP exams and either has or will be taking finals so I wouldn't read too much into this.

Good point. My son just finished his junior year. 6 AP tests and 2 IB tests in May, at the end of track season. He was sleep deprived and exhausted all month.

Infamous NY Times article 1-2 years ago said High School long distance girls peak at 15. Katelyn is about 17. Looks like she gained a lot of weight past 2-3 months. She looks healthy as a regular teen, but the weight has really slowed her down past months as an athlete. Grace Ping was record holder as a 6th-8th grader and meh in High School. Her 7th/8th grade sister Lauren Ping fast, but watch her slow down too. Sad we never got to see Katelyn Tuohy and Claudua Lane compete in the same race. Claudia got so destroyed mentally and physically starting January 2018. Her form was horrible and shes done for good. She will do great academically. Hopefully Tuohy can 3-peat win at NXN Dec. 2019. Doubt she'll come close to her sophomore track records ever again. She should never have brought up Olympic trials. Look at Mary Cain! Even Bree Oakley failed at Berkeley in Track.

Katelyn ran a PR National Record 901 in January in the 3000

She also set personal and National records this year in Cross Country

So her Junior cross-country an indoor track we're just as good as her sophomore year

There's no clear sign that she's slowing down just that she had an off month or two probably because of a lot of academics and

Anyway my guess is that she bounces back strong next year across country and runs just as fast as she has in the past and maybe set some personal records and National records again awesome Talent awesome kid

Hejendo76 wrote:

Yep. Tuohy has shut down her season. Thoughts?

My thoughts is that too many of you guys feign to be genuinely concerned about young female running prodigies, when in reality you are disguising it as a hope for any outcome other than what's best for them. Another male runner who feels threatened.

Why are you worried that an athlete doesn't PR in a given year? Where is the rule sheet that says a high school running phenom must PR every year? Even elite adults don't PR every year. I think that placing an emphasis on whether or not an athlete PR's in a given year as an overall indicator of their running health is a misguided approach. A simple injury year proves that it's misguided.

does puberty work different for East African female distance runners? This performance dedcline due to puberty never seems to be discussed among the East Africans.

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

Why are you worried that an athlete doesn't PR in a given year? Where is the rule sheet that says a high school running phenom must PR every year? Even elite adults don't PR every year.

Pretty bizarre if you ask me. A grown man worried about a 16 year old girls PRs? A 16 year old kid? There are at least 42,000 other things I'd worry about before a 16 year-olds PRs would come up.

Maybe grown-ups should be grown-ups and let kids be kids?

Scottish Runner wrote:

This has to be one of the most creepy of the many creepy threads by Americans obsessing over the weight and performance of a teenage girl athlete.

Those are almost the exact words I used on day one when I told the twins this thread needs to go. I was overruled.

malmo wrote:

Scottish Runner wrote:

This has to be one of the most creepy of the many creepy threads by Americans obsessing over the weight and performance of a teenage girl athlete.

Those are almost the exact words I used on day one when I told the twins this thread needs to go. I was overruled.

I think it's because subconsciously some of those guys feel threatened by her intimidatingly fast times for a high school girl and are secretly hoping she fails.

It's not just this thread or Tuohy, practically any time a female distance runner steps up and does anything posters go kind of crazy and body form and development soon enters the discussion.

Teenage boys that begin to stand out are under magnifying glass, with girls/young women it's a 200X microscope.

Smart thing they shut the season down for KT--be a teen for a while, rebuild, and maybe even delayXC and skip some meets next fall.

Coyote Montane wrote:

It's not just this thread or Tuohy, practically any time a female distance runner steps up and does anything posters go kind of crazy and body form and development soon enters the discussion.

Teenage boys that begin to stand out are under magnifying glass, with girls/young women it's a 200X microscope.

Smart thing they shut the season down for KT--be a teen for a while, rebuild, and maybe even delayXC and skip some meets next fall.

Exact behavior of someone who feels threatened by another. They see it as an enemy and are more particular to point out any perceived flaw.

Coyote Montane wrote:

It's not just this thread or Tuohy, practically any time a female distance runner steps up and does anything posters go kind of crazy and body form and development soon enters the discussion.

Teenage boys that begin to stand out are under magnifying glass, with girls/young women it's a 200X microscope.

Smart thing they shut the season down for KT--be a teen for a while, rebuild, and maybe even delayXC and skip some meets next fall.

I'd wager that the majority of these guys criticizing her development would be perfectly content if news came out of Ethiopia of a 14 year old girl running a 15-minute 5K. There's a certain almost default acceptance of African women running those kinds of times at all ages, with the glass always be seen as half full...while a young American Caucasian girl doing the same sort of performances raises eyebrowns and suspicions about her long term development.

This NEVER happens with African female phenoms.