Wilkinson Upsets Tuohy In Dramatic HS Mile

By Marc Bloom for DyeStat

       Maybe it wasn’t Billy Mills at Tokyo in the 1964 Olympic 10,000. But when Gabrielle Wilkinson soared past the overwhelming favorite Katelyn Tuohy on the bell lap of the NYRR Millrose Games high school girls mile at the New York Armory on Saturday, in the meet’s biggest upset, track’s earth moved just a little.

       After Wilkinson, a senior at Friends School near Philadelphia, broke the tape joyfully in 4:42.94, and Tuohy finished fourth in 4:47.10, rushing to the bathroom in tears, it was the intersection of triumph and trauma in young girls distance running. Haven’t we been there before? The mere mention of “Mary Cain” sets off unending debate on how to handle precocious girls like Tuohy, a 15-year-old sophomore at North Rockland High outside New York. 

       Prior to the meet, it was Tuohy this and Tuohy that. And why not? Tuohy, a star since seventh grade, had been on a four-month tear, surpassing anything ever seen in high school running. 

        In October, at the Manhattan Cross Country Invitational, Tuohy broke the Van Cortlandt Park 2.5-mile course record by an astounding 32 seconds in 13:21.8, an excellent time for a high school boy. In November, she ran 16:52.4 at the State Federation meet, taking another 18 seconds off her 5k record at Bowdoin Park, making mincemeat yet again of one of the nation’s toughest cross country courses. In December, she won Nike Cross Nationals in 16:45, beating the talented Kelsey Chmiel of Saratoga Springs, by 40 seconds, and she looked so keen and easygoing doing it. In early January, she ran a near-record 9:05.36 3,000 on Staten Island, breezed through her Millrose trial in 4:43.12; and two weeks before Millrose, on Jan. 20, she ran the 5,000 at the Virginia Showcase meet in 15:37.12, taking eight seconds off a Mary Cain high school record, in a robotic performance in which all 25 laps were perfectly on target.

       One more time?

       Tuohy had been invited to run the women’s professional mile at Millrose but demurred, choosing the high school race instead with a goal of getting under 4:40. When she darted out to the lead, in her trademark catch-me-if-you-can style, gapping the field with a quarter split of 67.3, it looked like Tuohy might run the 4:30ish she seemed capable of -- a time worthy of the pros. Halfway, Tuohy’s 2:18.4 still looked routine. Her posture was clean and her countenance impassive, with the hint of a smile that implied female empowerment at its finest.

       Chmiel held second, her inevitable spot behind Tuohy in race after race. A month earlier Chmiel, a 16-year-old junior, had earned a crown worthy of her resume with an international junior 19-and-under 4k cross-country title as a member of the U.S. team competing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Chmiel ran the muddy, grass course in 14:10, well ahead of her American teammate, seventh-place Claudia Lane of California (14:30), a two-time Foot Locker national cross-country champion.

       Chmiel said Saturday that Edinburgh had given her a confidence boost for Millrose. Perhaps it was not only the 4k race that regenerated her but also her jaunt with American teammates in the middle of the night to climb a mountain overlooking the cross-country course in darkness. If the normally reserved and reticent Chmiel was up for some Scottish derring-do, well, add another touch of intrigue to the whip-fast Millrose field.

       Wilkinson, headed for the University of Florida, took up position behind Chmiel in third with the rest of the 13-runner field far back. When it came to precocity, Wilkinson had her own baby steps to manage. A runner since age 8, with a 2:18 800 on the books in fifth grade, Gabby was a regular on the AAU Junior Olympic and USATF Youth circuit. In August of 2016, just before her junior year at Friends, Wilkinson won the national J.O. 1,500 meters in 4:25.04, breaking a 24-year-old record for her age-group. Her time was equivalent to a 4:46 mile. Wilkinson’s Millrose goal had been 4:45. Mission accomplished.

       But winning? In the month before, Wilkinson still seemed wedded to the 800. She won the AT&T 800 at the Armory in 2:10.81 and a pair of 1,000s, most recently at the Dr. Sander Invitational, running a snappy 2:47:22 on the Armory track the week before Millrose. Saying “I like to try new things,” the fearless Wilkinson added some hour-runs to her training recipe while also sharpening her kick to get ready for the mile — for Tuohy.

       Instructed by her coach to try and stay with Tuohy until the last lap and then see what her streetwise Philly kick could do, Wilkinson looked out of contention until the three-quarter. When Tuohy slowed to a 3:30.8 (a 72.4 quarter), it was a rare sign of submission that cried out for a response. 

       Like sharks, Wilkinson, Chmiel and Marlee Starliper of Pennsylvania rallied together to try and reel Tuohy in. With about 130 meters left, the trio entered Tuohy’s space — for the first time all year Tuohy’s shoulders were brushed in a major race — and with Tuohy stunned and shaken, Wilkinson felt her moment had arrived.

       “I could tell she was slowing,” said Wilkinson, who has a 4.0 GPA and plans to study sports medicine at Gainesville. “I told myself, ‘Oh my gosh, Gabby, this is the time to go. You’ve been working on this in practice.’”

       Wilkinson hauled the last turn, daring to take a quick peek back, and sprinted home with a 10-meter triumph over Chmiel, timed in a PR 4:44.55. Starliper, a sophomore at Northern High in tiny Dillsburg, closed well in third in 4:44.97, a five-second PR. It was another 15 meters back to Tuohy. WILKINSON POST-RACE

       While Wilkinson did interviews in the Armory media room, Tuohy remained out of sight.

       One had to feel for her. Clearly Tuohy’s emotional vulnerability was on a different plane than her physical prowess. It should never be forgotten that a girl’s complex growth patterns are rarely in sync. Muscle and mind, it’s a crap shoot.

       Plus, you can win the big races from the front, and run time trials all day long, but when you’re challenged by the hot breath of competition on your neck, and not only victory but who you are is under assault, thoughts can go haywire and, in a flash, you can be crushed. 

       There are lessons to be learned. Maturity can wield its power. I don’t think it’s so bad that Tuohy wound up in tears. When the meet was over and I found Tuohy suiting up to leave the Armory with her coach and parents, she was still too upset to talk. “Not today,” said her father. He was right.

       Katelyn needed her space. It was a different space than what she would find on the track, in the arena of public adoration. It was a space in which to find comfort and clarity in restraint, in who you are and yet to become, the genuine Katelyn.

       And to remember the old Paul Simon tune: “Slow down, you move too fast/You got to make the morning last…” 

       Kid, you got to make running feel groovy.