North Carolina State head coach Laurie Henes and star runner Katelyn Tuohy are just two of the faces behind the women’s cross country dynasty that has resulted in three consecutive national titles, consecutive NCAA regional titles and ACC Cross Country Championship titles.

In addition to the team's success, Henes has also overseen Tuohy’s training for four individual NCAA titles and three collegiate records. As one chapter closes for the duo, and another begins, not too much will change. Tuohy has decided to turn professional and sign a pro contract with adidas but will remain under Henes’ guidance into the Olympic year.

“We will miss her immensely,” Henes says. “Program-wise, she won’t be at practice every day, but she'll definitely be around. It’ll just be a little bit of a different focus. She and I are both super excited for that next step too.”

Heading into the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Henes was optimistic about Tuohy’s fitness, feeling she was coming into the title defense in the best shape of her career. However, things got complicated as Tuohy came down with an illness as the team traveled to Charlottesville and Kelsey Chmiel (who finished third at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships) was ruled out due to a leg injury.

Florida’s Parker Valby quickly pulled away from the field, which left Tuohy in a chase pack knowing her chances of repeating as an individual champion were dwindling but there was still a chance to win as a team. Tuohy was in 11th place at 4K but then rallied up to sixth place by the time she got to Henes at the 5K mark.

“When I saw Katelyn I was torn,” Henes says. “I could tell how much she was struggling so I was between being like, ‘It's okay to stop’ and ‘We could still win and we are still winning’ so I went with the latter… I didn’t realize until later that she'd fallen back to 11th and then got those people back at the end.

“I think that just speaks to how important the team is to her with what she was able to do,” she adds. “It just goes to show you what kind of teammate Katelyn is.”

Shortly after crossing the finish line in fifth place, Tuohy looked up at the scoreboard and saw that NC State had just barely edged out No. 1-ranked Northern Arizona 123 to 124 for their third consecutive title. She quickly made her way to Henes and the two embraced. (A video clip of the moment has been seen more than 325,800 times on X)

“It says a lot about her and her career in general,” Henes says. “She came in struggling, having got hurt at the end of high school. I'm so grateful that this program was able to help her get back and that she had the teammates and support here that she was able to come back after a disappointing end to her high school career and be able to have the career she's had here at NC State.

“I know some of her last individual [performances] weren't what she was hoping for or what we thought could have happened, but for her to end on a team championship will mean a lot to her looking back and it means so much to our program, staff and everyone at NC State.”