Running News Daily

NCAA champion Katelyn Tuohy signs sponsorship deal with Adidas

On Nov. 22, only three days after Katelyn Tuohy won her first NCAA XC Championship, she announced on her Instagram that she has signed a name, image and likeness (NIL) sponsorship deal with Adidas Running.

“Joining the three stripes fam couldn’t feel more right,” Tuohy said on Instagram. “I am excited to join the Adidas team and their amazing crew of student-athletes.”

Two years ago, all NCAA athletes were prohibited from profiting from their fame, and it was not until July 2021 that NCAA passed a rule allowing student-athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness. Although a NIL deal does not have the same monetary value as a pro deal, it allows an athlete to continue competing at the collegiate level while earning money from their image.

According to the collegiate sports website On3, Tuohy is ranked as the 39th most popular female athlete across all NCAA sports and carries a brand valuation of nearly CAD $100,000. 

Tuohy is one of the best-known distance runners in the NCAA right now due; the third-year student at North Carolina State University is a three-time NCAA champion, winning the 5,000m title last spring and the XC individual and team title at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.  

She began to make headlines as a high school athlete in 2018 when she set a U.S. high school 5K record of 16:06.87. Tuohy also won the Gatorade Athlete of the Year for cross-country, given to the top U.S. high school athlete. She won this award in three of her four years, becoming the only athlete in any sport to accomplish this.