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The two time defending NXN Individual Champion from North Rockland opened her 2019 Invitational Season with another Course Record. It's been a familiar theme to Katelyn Tuohy's XC competitions over the past three years, and this time, she took her talents to North Carolina. Racing at Great American, held at the WakeMed Soccer Complex, Tuohy ran to a winning mark of 16:22.8, a 42-second gap over second place, Jenna Hutchins of TN. Hutchins was 9th at Foot Locker last year.
The previous Meet Record was run last year, by Kelsey Chmiel (Saratoga). She ran to a winning time of 16:43.8, which was rated a 154.40. The actual Course Record came from Nevada Mareno (Leesville, NC) in 2015, when she ran 16:36.18 for a 157-Speed Rating. Tuohy took the race out fast, opening in a 4:52 for the opening mile, some of which is downhill. She was at 6:11 for the 2k measured split.
Tuohy's race was rated at 161, which is her most subdued debut effort in the past two years. In fact, it was her lowest mark since October of 2017. Some of that is by design. Coach Brian Diglio made mention of a delayed peak in 2019, citing some of her best races had come too early in the Season last year (see Workout Wednesday for full comment). Tuohy is still the top rated athlete in the country so far.