VERONA, WISCONSIN, October 14 — In a perfect setup for a dramatic and competitive NCAA women’s meet 5 weeks from now, NC State and New Mexico showed why they came in ranked 1-2, tying at 80 points in the 13th running of the Nuttycombe Invitational.
NC State took the official win off its 1-2-18-23-36 placings, bettering the Lobos’ 8-9-12-25-26 sticks using NCAA tiebreaker rules.
Katelyn Tuohy could very well replicate her win here five weeks hence. The NC State soph, who won the track 5K last spring and has been living up to her high school hype and then some, continued to show her dominance.
She broke away from the lead pack around 5K and then cruised to the win in 19:44.3 over junior teammate Kelsey Chmiel (19:49.4), although it really wasn’t as close as those times may indicate. Even on cruise control, Tuohy’s time was the eighth-fastest for the course.
The rest of today’s top 5 included Northern Arizona soph Elise Sterns (19:57.5), Oregon State junior Kaylee Mitchell (20:00.5) and Colorado junior Bailey Hertenstein (20:02.7). New Mexico’s push began with Samree Dishon and Gracelyn Larkin in 8th and 9th, followed by third runner Amelia Mazza-Downie in 12th. Its fourth and fifth counters were Elise Thorner in 25th and Emily Heckel in 26th.
NC State’s third runner was Samantha Bush in 18th, followed by Sydney Seymour in 23rd and Nevada Moreno in 36th.
Twenty-three ranked teams toed the line and they didn’t disappoint in a loaded field that will be eclipsed for “star power” only at the NCAA meet. All except two of the top 22 finishing teams (in the 36-team field) here were ranked. That #4 Northern Arizona (244), #5 BYU (252) and #10 Notre Dame (257) were all more than 160 points in arrears of NC State and New Mexico testifies to the strength of the top two. No slouches rounded out the top 10, either, with #11 North Carolina (280), #8 Stanford (285), #12 Utah (303), #7 Colorado (306) and #13 Georgetown (310) following.
Said Tuohy, “I wanted to make a hard push on the hills, with a little more than a K to go, and then I just worked on moving up. Stillwater is going to be really hilly. We’ve been working hard. I’ve practiced doing a bunch of things preparing for the season so hills are part of that.”
There was a humongous early pack, which can make things problematical, but Tuohy was ready. “I was…
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