She won the weiss crockett in that time, fastest this season, and beat Cook at big 12's
I get the impression Coach Smith is not opposed to being on the lookout to cherry-pick top foreign athletes.
I think some might find that take ‘unfair’ or ‘harsh’. I’ll try to clarify. Any foreign non-English speaking athlete that can come into the States and drop a 20:15 on that course within a matter of weeks, has almost certainly already previously displayed super talent elsewhere (back in her country.) I don’t think it’s the case that a foreigner showed up on Smith’s doorstep, and he then introduced her to running and whipped her into shape within a few short weeks.
I've seen on a few threads where people made comments about Valby's 'tangents'....and some others jumped on them. Normally in an XC race, it is hard to run tangents because of all the other runners around you. But because Valby was in the lead, this was noticeable in a few places. The first was on the first hairpin corner as Valby was just starting to move away...now I think she just had her head down and didn't realize, but she was well off line and had to jump back over. But near the end of the race (at 5.2km 16:40) , there was an overhead behind shot as Tuohy was tracking down Valby going into the last hill. There was a bend in the track....Valby ran fairly close to the middle and did not cut the corner. Tuohy, on the other hand, cut the corner tight. She probably gained 2 or 3 meters on Valby just on that one corner.
In the end, Tuohy was going to get her....but it was something that jumped out at me during the race as well and could have made a difference if the race was closer.
In my previous post, I gave three reasons why Tuohy is not going to beat Valby on the final hills.
(3) If Tuohy goes out fast, the group will follow.
This would be the fourth reason why I don’t think Tuohy beats Valby on the finishing hills, because if Tuohy is the one that has already been taking it out fast up to that point, then that would us going to make those hills more difficult at that stage in the race.
If tuohy is neck-and-neck with Valby and McCabe on that last hill, and Chelengat, Roe, and Cook are within seconds, then unquestionably, Tuohy’s job will be to her hold her placement for her team. If instead, Tuohy were to still try and grab the Individual Title, under that scenario, and end up dropping 1-3 sticks that would consequently cost her Team the Team Trophy, then that would haunt her…for who knows how long. Her teammates and coach would rightfully question, “What were you thinking? Why did you not hold your placement??”
Well, I guess both Tuohy and Chmiel were not trying to 'hold their place'....according to your premise, Tuohy had no reason to try and chase Valby down in the last km. She had easily locked up 1st place in the team race. But that simply not how the top athletes think. She was not holding back, neither was any of the other top 20 - 100 runners...everyone of them was trying to finish as high as possible. You can't compete at this level worried that you will hit a wall...you run as hard as you think you can manage. Holding a proper pace at the beginning and middle of the race is essential....but any competitive athlete wants to finish on empty.
On that horseshoe turn Valby was following the camera vehicle (!) You can see her do it throughout the race. What would make a runner do that?
Going back to elementary school, everyone can understand taking corners on the inside is a shorter distance. How can an NCAA athlete not get that? Even on the second horseshoe turn, Valby ran as if she was next to Tuohy at the 5000 while Tuohy hugged the curve.
When she speaks, she doesn't sound like an idiot. How does she not get it? What kind of mindset follows the camera truck in the finals and can't negotiate a tangent? I wonder what her coach said to her as Tuohy was closing in to pass.
I don't know her at all, but there's something a little off about Valby. Is she the captain of her own ship, or.....
Expect collegiate distance records to be shattered.
I've seen on a few threads where people made comments about Valby's 'tangents'....and some others jumped on them. Normally in an XC race, it is hard to run tangents because of all the other runners around you. But because Valby was in the lead, this was noticeable in a few places. The first was on the first hairpin corner as Valby was just starting to move away...now I think she just had her head down and didn't realize, but she was well off line and had to jump back over. But near the end of the race (at 5.2km 16:40) , there was an overhead behind shot as Tuohy was tracking down Valby going into the last hill. There was a bend in the track....Valby ran fairly close to the middle and did not cut the corner. Tuohy, on the other hand, cut the corner tight. She probably gained 2 or 3 meters on Valby just on that one corner.
In the end, Tuohy was going to get her....but it was something that jumped out at me during the race as well and could have made a difference if the race was closer.
On that horseshoe turn Valby was following the camera vehicle (!) You can see her do it throughout the race. What would make a runner do that?
Going back to elementary school, everyone can understand taking corners on the inside is a shorter distance. How can an NCAA athlete not get that? Even on the second horseshoe turn, Valby ran as if she was next to Tuohy at the 5000 while Tuohy hugged the curve.
When she speaks, she doesn't sound like an idiot. How does she not get it? What kind of mindset follows the camera truck in the finals and can't negotiate a tangent? I wonder what her coach said to her as Tuohy was closing in to pass.
I don't know her at all, but there's something a little off about Valby. Is she the captain of her own ship, or.....
All I know about Valby comes from watching the NCAA XC race and her post-race interview. My impression is that she wasn't really racing as much as just running very hard and freely. I expect she wanted to win the race, but went about it in a way that feels right to her. Maybe she has a bit of Rono in her. I hope she never loses it.
She thought she was faster and stronger than Tuohy. She was very confident in her pre-race interview. She was not intimidated by Katelyn, she had more than 12 seconds lead in that race and still she lost the race, she should be intimidated by now knowing even that big of a lead is NOT safe with Tuohy.
All I know about Valby comes from watching the NCAA XC race and her post-race interview. My impression is that she wasn't really racing as much as just running very hard and freely. I expect she wanted to win the race, but went about it in a way that feels right to her. Maybe she has a bit of Rono in her. I hope she never loses it.
She wasn't really racing. Hmmm... just running hard and free. Running across a beautiful meadow, not a care in the world. It justs feels so right.
Where am I? That was the race? You're kidding, right? I was supposed to finish ahead of everyone else? Can I have another chance?
She thought she was faster and stronger than Tuohy. She was very confident in her pre-race interview. She was not intimidated by Katelyn, she had more than 12 seconds lead in that race and still she lost the race, she should be intimidated by now knowing even that big of a lead is NOT safe with Tuohy.
It would be interesting to see them race indoors, will Tuohy lead or let Valby lead? Valby most likely will try to run away from everyone per usual, and Tuohy will sit behind the leader and let off her kick in the last 2 laps. Unless Valby develops a kick, I don't think she will be beating Tuohy anytime soon.
Unless Valby develops a kick, I don't think she will be beating Tuohy anytime soon.
Yes. It's very hard to run away from a field in an indoors 3k, unless one is far superior (it's easier in XC but wasn't enough for Valby). The advantage to a frontrunner indoors is that there is no wind and passing is more difficult because of the short straights. But unless someone like Valby really has at least 5 sec. worth better shape than e.g. Tuohy, she won't be able to run off the wheels of them.
It would be interesting to see them race indoors, will Tuohy lead or let Valby lead? Valby most likely will try to run away from everyone per usual, and Tuohy will sit behind the leader and let off her kick in the last 2 laps. Unless Valby develops a kick, I don't think she will be beating Tuohy anytime soon.
I don't see why it would be much different than outdoor last year. In the regionals, Valby matched Tuohy stride for stride most of the race. She actually ran farther being on the outside. It didn't work, Tuohy was just better. What if she ran on Tuohy's shoulder instead of side by side. She would have run a shorter distance and drafted at the same time. Maybe her "programming" needs to be adjusted.
In the finals, she tried an earlier kick. Not good enough. Tuohy waited to make her move and kicked butt.
In XC she tried leaving the crowd behind, it worked against the other competitors, but Tuohy had already paid the bills with hills in training.
My impression is that she wasn't really racing as much as just running very hard and freely. I expect she wanted to win the race, but went about it in a way that feels right to her. Maybe she has a bit of Rono in her. I hope she never loses it.