Because female athletes continuously are overshadowed by male athletes, many sports fans have not heard of the rivalry between cross-country runners Katelyn Tuohy and Parker Valby.
Tuohy is an NCAA middle-distance runner for North Carolina State University. She has four individual Division I NCAA champion titles, and she earned three consecutive Nike Cross National Championship wins during her high school career.
At only 21 years old, during her senior year at North Carolina State, she is one of the fastest women in the world for her age.
Tuohy’s dominance in the sport is something worth acknowledging. She has been crushing national records since she came to the NCAA, but most people don’t know about her success.
Valby, meanwhile, is a standout runner at the University of Florida. She is one of the top collegiate runners, but she often falls second to Tuohy.
Valby and Tuohy’s competition is one of the most merciless in sports today, with Tuohy earning individual titles and Valby always right behind her.
Although Tuohy usually pulls through and wins, in the most recent cross-country invitational at Nuttycombe in Madison, Wis., fans saw a change in position as Valby beat Tuohy by 12 seconds in the 6000 meters.
Valby ran a 19:17, setting a new course record and winning not only the invitational but a finish above Tuohy. This is not the first time Valby has come out on top, but it was still unexpected by fans of both athletes.
These runners are some of the best the NCAA has ever seen, with both of them breaking records set decades ago. But the world has yet to appreciate their great work.
The NCAA championship is set to happen on Nov. 18, in Charlottesville, Va. At last year’s race, fans saw a final push from Tuohy lead her past Valby in the last thousand meters. Fans are waiting to see what the pair will do this year.
