Katelyn Tuohy Should keep Her Eligibility! NCAA Distance Roundtable pro vs college decisions! NIL and Olympics postmortem

Ugh…

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If she is graduating this year, even with remaining eligibility, what is the purpose of remaining at NCS? She can pursue further education at any time or place in the future. Now is the time to turn pro to enable her to prepare properly to try and make the OG team next year. Whether she makes it or not is frankly irrelevant - it is the effort to try to do so with a professional approach that matters.

It seems to me that those against it are the "Tuohy in College" worshippers (like Astro) who see her in a weird way - like her turning Pro is somehow going to taint her (with Astro that is no surprise as he thinks ALL Pro's are dirty), as if staying in College is like retaining her virginity. She needs to spread her wings and search out the right environment for her to maximize her ability - that is certainly NOT in a US College environment. Going to altitude will definitely help her develop (as it has with Monson) to a better degree, and give her time to decide which events suit her best. GDS wasn't exactly a HS 800m star, yet she has gone on to run 1.58 and 3.56, nothing to say that KT couldn't do similarly if she chooses to develop that capacity, even instead of trying to make the '24 OG 5000m team. But she won't get either done in her current environment.

She beat Elly Henes indoors, and heck she beat Elise Cranny indoors. Elle Purrier just had a baby while Schweizer has had her third major injury in 3 years and hasn't raced in nearly a year. Those two could be back next year but they're hardly having a smooth run in to an Olympic year.

I think she is good enough to be competitive. Adapting to the pro scene and international calibre racing takes time and experience. In terms of long term development how much does she gain beating people who she is head and shoulders above for another year?

Yes she might get more headlines in the short term, but if you want to maximize personal growth I don't think hanging around the NCAA is it. That's really short term thinking.

She has shown with that 8:35 indoor 3000m that she is good enough at her best to fight for a US team spot *now.* Not a lock for sure, but she could put herself in the mix.

All eyes should be on Paris. Doing an exhausting triple at NCAA indoors, or an exhausting 15/10 double the month before trials makes no sense whatsoever in terms of trying to make the team for Paris.

And ask anyone who has stood on the startline of a sold out 80,000 seat stadium at an Olympics and ask them if they would trade that for a few more NCAA titles. They wouldn't.

Not sure why any fan would want their favorite athlete to go pro. Pros race 1-2 times a year.

Thats only true if you run for Schumacher or Bobby Kersee. Ingebrigtsen raced more in 2022 than Tuohy did in college. So did Elly Henes. The ON athletes all raced about the same as her.

Good point. As an adidas collegian she's raced 4 pro races in 2023, Dr Sander, Millrose, Wake Forest, Track fest. That's more than most of her pro competitors.

With her limited schedule anyway, outdoor was 1-wake, 2-track fest, 3-acc, 4- regional, 5-nats, kt could do online masters remaining 'in school' and train in Flagstaff, just coming down for meets. Heck meets 2-5 were actually after semester is over.

I heard the South Carolina distance team takes on line classes and trains in Morocco.

Yeah you guys make some good points... In fact you're pretty convincing...

But I was thinking can't you just do all those things without giving up the eligibility...

In other words what is a sponsor care, why not just sign a multi-year NIL deal...

And then just redshirt for however long you want until you figure out if a pro thing is going well...

I mean it's not like she's going to be losing out on big race winnings...

Anyway the only thing you can't do as an NCAA athlete is collect prizes for competitions so she can't get paid for winning a race but

There's not going to be any big races anyway until the Olympics so she's just going to be training anyway...

She'll be 26 when she makes the Olympic team. Maybe she has other plans for her life.

She’s not going to stretch out her NCAA time just to entertain you. Her dream is to compete in the Olympics. She’s plenty good to be competitive and like it or not she’s at or close to elite levels now…not two years from now. Her progression is ahead of all the top American runners when they where 21. The idea that she’ll be languishing in the 14:50 region for two years is absurd. Stop projecting. She’s on a steep curve and will be catching up to the top players faster than you think, and they pretty much know it. She’s beaten Cranny and Henes last time they competed indoors in the 3K. She was a half step behind Monson in the mile. Why are you guys insisting that she can’t even compete with the top American Pro’s. Even if she finishes a few seconds behind the best that still gives her an even chance of finishing in the top three in an Olympic trial. If not, that’s ok, she’ll gain those seconds faster than any American has done thus far. She broke Schweitzer’s NCAA record by 6 seconds. That’s a good start but its also an indicator that you can’t project progress based on others’ past progression rates. To give her the best chance of reaching her dream she needs to move to the professional ranks as soon as practical. It will take a few months to acclimate to altitude and the accelerated workout routine. I hope she follows Monson’s path to give her the best chance by joining the hot team in Boulder. It’s a great place with lots of natural, cultural and academic resources nearby. Her friend and former teammate, Hannah Steelman, is already in that environment. There is no percentage in staying in a program where she’s already performing at a level above other collegians and has beaten all the usual players.

She is only 21 years old and she really enjoys her team, its program and culture. She’s already got an excellent NIL deal with Adidas. She is improving considerably under Coach Henes. I could see her running cross country in 2023, redshirting track ( maybe only outdoor season) in 2024. While doing this she could take NC State online classes(the school has a great program for those) and train at altitude. She could take a shot at making the 2024 team. Either making it or not she can finish her eligibility for the 3 seasons during the 24-25 academic year.

What’s your point? This will at best retard her potential progress. She needs to train with the best to be given the best chance of beating them. Those who want her to put in more time in a program that has already put her at the top of the college level are selfishly thinking she will continue to perform for them. Time to move on and do what’s best for Katelyn not her college Fanclub. Change is hard but KT has never turned down a challenge. Let her go for the best chance at ‘24, ‘28 and ‘32. If she does her best and ‘24 is still out of reach there may be another 2 Olympics to look forward to. NCSt is not going to give her what she needs going forward.

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