Millrose Games: Katelyn Tuohy breaks second collegiate record in two weeks

NEW YORK — She couldn't catch Alicia Monson.

Couldn't catch her two weeks ago, either.

That didn't matter.

Either time.

Saturday, Katelyn Tuohy, who gained national fame as a high school runner at North Rockland, set her second indoor national women's collegiate record at The Armory in just two weeks.

In a pro-loaded,14-starter race, which included only one other college runner, the 20-year-old North Carolina State runner ran 8:35.2 to finish third in the women's 3,000-meter race at the 115th annual Millrose Games.

Tuohy's time broke the women's collegiate indoor mark by 6.4 seconds and was a full 24 seconds faster than Tuohy's previous personal best at the distance. She ran 8:59.2 last March to finish second at the NCAA Division I women's indoor track and field national championships.

Monson, who pulled away late in Saturday's race, set a U.S. women's record, with her 8:25.5 finish.

That time is the women's world-leading mark this season and is especially noteworthy since Monson is most recognized as an elite international competitor at longer distances. She competed at 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The 24-year-old, who Tuohy fondly recalled watching on television both during the Olympics and when Monson competed for the University of Wisconsin, beat Tuohy in the mile during the Dr. Sander Invitational Jan. 28.

The finish of that race mirrored Saturday's 3,000 with Monson winning in 4:23.55, fellow pro Whittni Morgan finishing second in 4:23.6 and Tuohy breaking the collegiate mark in 4:24.26.

At Millrose, the 26-year-old Morgan ran a personal-best 8:30.13 for second.

The difference during Millrose is Tuohy was never running with a legitimate shot at winning.

The plan fashioned by NC State coach Laurie Henes had her refraining from going out potentially too fast.

"I was just realistic I couldn't be with the top group," Tuohy said.

Tuohy was in ninth place early on in the 15-lap race. She moved to eighth with 11 laps left, then seventh with 10 to go.

She went from eighth with six left to fifth with five to go. Another lap and she was in fourth. She took over third with about two-and-half laps left.

"I just follow what the boss lady says and it usually works out," she said, smiling, referring to Henes.

In fact, it worked out better than planned.

Tuohy, who cut her teeth in indoor track at The Armory, first running there as a seventh-grader on North Rockland's varsity team, said of her finishing time, "That's pretty fast. I was like, 'If I get under 8:40 that would be a really good day.' "

And so it was.

At the finish, she was congratulated by many, including, as she was two weeks earlier, by Monson and Morgan.

"They were just saying, 'Good job.' To kind of get validation from them is kind of cool," Tuohy said.

And so was setting another collegiate record on familiar ground, in front of some familiar faces.

"A lot of my family and friends were here today — my coaches, some alumni. So it was really special to be able to do it here.

"When they announced my name, the crowd kind of roared a little bit. Loved it. I felt it. I felt it in my heart," Tuohy said.

Holt runs out of gas

Tuohy's race was one of two, where a U.S. national record was set.

The other was the men's Wannamaker Mile.

Former Carmel High and Binghamton University runner Eric Holt, whose post-collegiate ascent as a miler has drawn widespread attention, fell back to earth a little Saturday in that race.

Holt, who as invited to compete in the prestigious race after his second-place finish two weeks earlier in the mile at the Dr. Sander Invitational, went from mid-pack with three laps left in the eight-lap race, to last place.

Holt's time, 3:58.64, was two-plus seconds behind his indoor PB (3:56.58), set at Dr. Sander.

And it was a world away from winner Yared Nuguse's record-setting run.

Nuguse ran a blistering 3:47.38, a new American indoor record and the second fastest time ever run indoors in the world.

Post-race, Holt appeared disappointed but also determined to improve.

"I'm no there yet," Holt said. "I' don't care about the time. I'm not here for a consolation prize. I'm here to compete. I ran out of gas. ... I've just got to work on endurance. I'm just not strong. ... I have the speed to compete with those guys. ... I just don't have the lung capacity."

Bronxville runs to NY #1 time, Suffern to #2 on season

Only five teams competed in the girls suburban 4x200-meter relay. hree were local.

None of them won the race but all left with victories.

The actual win went to New Jersey's Timber Creek in 3:53.82.

But Bronxville, which was second, got its own form of gold.

Juliet Winiecki, Mai Ly Reinking, Kara Kochansky and Danielle Dragoni ran a collective 3:58.6. That time, a huge, seven-second season best for the Broncos, placed Bronxville No. 1 in the state this season among girls high school 4x400 teams.

The time also qualified the team for the top division at both New Balance Nationals and Nike Nationals.

Boys coach Brian Halling clearly appreciated the time, repeatedly yelling, "Are you kidding me?"

Girls coach Alex Barraco indicated the team will probably compete at New Balance Nationals, which recently moved to New Balance's new track complex in Boston.

Dragoni, like Reinking, a senior, expressed mixed emotions post-race.

"To get an opportunity to be here is massive. I'm so grateful," she said, explaining she was a mixture of sad and excited with her time on the Bronco track team winding down but big indoor meets and spring season left.

Third-place Suffern (Elise Falcon, Karen Augustin, Joy Yin and Kaya Duran) also crushed their season-best mark with a 4:01.94 run that was capped by the Binghamton-bound Duran's season-best 56.69 split.

The group's previous best time had been 4:08.87.

The new time placed it at No. 2 in New York and also qualified it for the championship division at the competing nationals, Nike's now being held at The Armory, the former long-time home of New Balance.

Locals are top national stars:Katelyn Tuohy breaks indoor collegiate women's mile mark, Carmel's Holt 2nd in men's mile

Ursuline senior rebounds:A year after being eliminated on last throw, Negrete gets Millrose Games spot

Clocking 4:05.85, fifth-place Scarsdale (Ariella Sobel, Shannon Kelly, Eva Gibney and Maria Roberts) also ran a season-best time. Its best time this season had been 4:08.92.

Ursuline's Negrete from not qualifying in 2022 to silver

A day after winning both the Section 1 Class A girls shot put and weight throw championships, Ursuline senior Prizila Negrete was back in the throwing circle at The Armory on Thursday.

A handful of Millrose events were conducted Thursday night and the girls weight throw was one.

Negrete, who entered the meet with the third-best throw among New York high school girls, had waited a long time to get to the Millrose Games.

A year earlier, she watched as she was knocked out on an opponent's last throw during the Millrose Trials. She'd been beaten but also had beaten herself, throwing more than three feet off her personal best.

It wasn't that she was haunted by that moment, which had initially left her "devastated." But she certainly didn't forget it.

"It did leave something in me. It was something I had to do, to come back to," Negrete said.

And so during Negrete did return and in a big way.

At last month's Millrose Games Trials, Negrete threw a personal-best distance, then topped that, finishing at 46 feet, 9.25 inches to win the event. That distance was more than 12 feet farther than her disappointing 2022 Trials throw.

Thursday, Negrete, who'll throw next year for Bucknell, worked more on her mental approach than technique before her throws.

"It was definite a brain gain to get in there without any nerves. Nerves wreck (things). Everything goes downhill," she said.

And so, Negrete told herself, "This is your time to have fun. Go in and be great."

Her first throw was just .25 off her personal best from the Trials.

Her second attempt, well, all she had to was look to her parents to know it was a good one.

"I saw them going crazy and I was like, 'Wait. That went really far,' " she said.

Indeed.

Negrete threw 47-11.75, second-best among high school girls in the state this season, and second-best on Thursday, a well.

The win went to Rhode Island's Jillian Leahy at 51-6.25.

But Negrete was still ecstatic and positive 47-11.75, which broke her own Ursuline record, will soon go down.

"I'm so blessed everything is working out better (than last year)," she said. "I have been working a lot in the weight room. I definitely feel something bigger (is coming)," she said.

More medalists

Horace Greeley (Ben Ho, Kyle McKenney, Manuel Bruses and Niko Wright) won silver in the boys 4x200 relay.

Greeley clocked 1:32.01 with the winner, Newton North of Massachusetts, finishing in 1:31.43.

"To come here and do that is so exciting," said Greeley coach Steve McKenney, who laughed wen recalling, pre-race, his son, Kyle, had said, "I don't want to finish last and be embarrassed."

Newburgh (Xaiver Williams, Anthony Burnett, Anthony Barrett and David Pinnock) clocked a season-best 3:25.26 for silver in Saturday's boys 4x400 relay.

New Jersey's Deptford Township won in 3:24.25.

Bronxville (Jaime Valdez, Davis Patterson, Pierce Patterson and Gavin Benton) ran a season-best 3:25.81 for third, Suffern (Cooper Mitchell, Anthony Couch, Ezra Koreen and Ernesto King) clocked a season-best 3:30.2 for fifth and Washingtonville (Jaiden Bradshaw, Joe Napolitano, Jason Ariano and Jayden Glover) also ran a season-best time in finishing sixth in 3:30.4.

Bronxville, whose relay team is composed only of seniors, did a lot of work on handoffs prior to Millrose, said Benton.

"We were stoked. We were so excited," he said of his team's pre-meet mentality.

And that didn't change much afterward, since Bronxville's time qualified it for the top division at New Balance Nationals.

"I think we can be like 3:22 (there). If we perfect everything, I think that's not unrealistic," Benton said. Iona Prep (Justin Hargraves, Hunter Zusi, Kyle Stewart and Marcus Nahim) ran 1:31.86 to finish second in the boys Catholic High School Athletic Association 4x200.

Cardinal Hayes got the win in 1:31.01.

Fordham Prep (Dakota Strain of The Bronx, Keegan Doody of Tuckahoe, Christian Camera of Bronxville and Diego DeLosSantos of The Bronx) ran 1:33.85 for sixth.

Other local highlights

Pearl River High graduate and current St. Thomas Aquinas athlete Ciara Durcan finished in a personal-best 7:12.81 to finish sixth in the women's mile racewalk.

Former White Plains walker Mia Priore also got a PB, finishing 10th in 7:45.95.

Maria Michta-Coffey won in 6:53.83.

Durcan, the lone racewalker at STAC, is also a 5,000-meter runner for that team.

Racwalking isn't an NCAA sport and isn't a headline-grabbing sport, but Durcan said, "Oh, I absolutely love it."

While she has no racewalking training partner, it's not like she's a walker without a team.

"Some of my teammates came to support me today, so it's not just me out there," Durcan said.

Priore, who had a 10-second PB after recently cutting her best time in the 3K racewalk by 20 seconds, said she was happy competing with people who are faster because that's how to get faster.

She pointed to teammate Marissa Sciotto's ninth-place, 7:41.87 finish, a PB after coming off COVID, and said, "This was very good for both of us.

Of competing at Millrose, she added, "It's amazing. I'm so grateful to be here. I never thought I'd be here, to be honest."

Mount Vernon resident Jaylin Santiago, a Fordham Prep junior, ran a personal-best 34.41 for fifth in the boys 300.

Stepinac's David Davitt took sixth in the boys 600, clocking a personal-best 1:20.87.

Somers' Jared Googel, at 55-1, was seventh in the boys weight throw, competed Thursday. Greeley's Daniel Ye (54-10.75) was eighth.

Ella Galloway from Section 9 Pine Bush was seventh out of 14 in the girls pole vault Thursday at 11-11.75. Warwick's Lila Beattie was ninth, clearing the same height but in more attempts and Beattie's teammate, Rachel Venter, was 10th (11-5.75).

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Millrose Games: Katelyn Tuohy sets collegiate 3K mark after mile mark