Tag: katelyn tuohy

Addison Ritzenhein gets a very special surprise from Katelyn Tuohy as the Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year

Addison Ritzenhein gets a surprise as the Gatorade Player of the Year.

Katelyn Tuohy, one of the most dominant athletes in NCAA history, knows how to pull off a surprise. Turns out she is dominant off the track too.

On Tuesday, Tuohy surprised Addison Ritzenhein as the 2023-24 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year by bringing the trophy to her school. A sophomore at Niwot High School (Niwot, Colorado), she won the Nike Cross Nationals Final with a time of 17:10.40.

Running cross country since seventh grade, Ritzenhein has the potential to be one of the best in the history of the sport. Tuohy, who presented her with the award, was named the Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons, beginning in 2018.

“Addy Ritzenhein achieved more and raced smarter than any prep girl in the country this past season, beating a stacked race field at the Nike Cross Nationals Final and leading her team to the podium,” said Rich Gonzalez, PrepCal Track editor., in a statement released by Gatorade

“Her excellence throughout 2023 on Colorado courses at altitude set her up for nationals, where her strength and tactical racing opened up the field. She was the best racer in the best races and she’s only a sophomore.” 

Tuohy ran cross country at North Carolina State for three seasons where she was among the best distance runners in college history. Last month, she declared her intentions to go professional and she signed an endorsement deal with Adidas.

As for Ritzenhein, she has the potential to match Tuohy’s dominance at the high school level over the next two years. She certainly has some good D.N.A. to take the next step in the sport.

Her father is former Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein, who twice won the Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year.

 

Katelyn Tuohy wins third straight New York cross country championship

Katelyn Tuohy notched her third consecutive New York Class A state cross country championship.

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — After running three miles in low-20-degree weather and at times through snow and slush and on top of icy patches, Katelyn Tuohy said, “I couldn’t really move my legs too well.”

Tell that to the other 467 girls who competed in Saturday’s State Cross-Country Championships at SUNY-Plattsburgh.

The North Rockland senior, running on feet whose toes had turned white “like a dead person’s,” ran nearly 25 seconds faster than the rest of the girls who traversed the roughly three-mile, largely flat course.

Tuohy, one of many Section 1 stars to excel Saturday, clocked 15:36.5 to win the girls Class A state title for a third time.

But, while Tuohy may have made it look easy, it wasn’t.

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“Everyone had the same conditions. It was more of a tough race than tactical,” she said. “It was about who was mentally tougher. Conditions like this put talent out the window.”

Perhaps.

But then Section 1 has a bunch of really tough runners, including in Tuohy’s division.

Five Section 1 runners finished in the top 20 in the 107-runner Class A race.

And North Rockland’s girls joined Pearl River’s Class B girls and North Rockland’s and Scarsdale’s Class A boys in placing high enough to have their team qualify for this coming Saturday’s State Federation Championships (public and private schools of all sizes) at Bowdoin Park.

In Class A, Carmel’s Katie Turk ran 16:50 for eighth place to qualify as an individual for Feds.

“Today I shocked myself,” Turk said, crediting her workouts with her finish.

North Rockland’s Haleigh Morales helped her team finish third overall in Class A with a 16:52.1, 10th-place finish.

Suffern’s Mary Hennelly crossed in 17:13.1 for 17th and fellow Hudson Valley runner Sarah Trainer from Section 9’s FDR (Hyde Park) was 19th in 17:13.7.

Read the rest of the story at The Journal News.