NCAA Record Breaking Gators’ Track and Field Athlete Gets Honored With Highly Coveted Recognition

The 4x NCAA Champion, who won the USTFCCCA Lance Harter Women’s National Athlete of the Year (2023), Parker Valby, is a renowned Gator track and field athlete. She has now established a new NCAA record, bringing pride to the Gator community this season.

The University of Florida athlete began her season run at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, Mass in the women’s 5000m and later snapped her collegiate record at the National Championships. This time, however, she not only made a collegiate record but also delivered a meet record by a striking 23-second win. Adding to her facility, school, and personal records, the Florida Gator’s woman athlete recently won highly coveted recognition for her collection.

New track and field records delivered

Captioned as the ‘Valby Mania’, the craze for another win by the cross country athlete Parker Valby roared as she clinched her NCAA 5000m triumph this season at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. The official page of the Gators track and field and cross country on X congratulated the American athlete on being named the USTFCCCA South Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year for the 2024 Indoor Season.

Parker Valby was the conqueror of last year’s NCAA cross country championships, and she chose to roar with the same vigor on the very first day of this year’s 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship held on the 8th of March. Winning the finals with a 14:52:79 record at The Track at New Balance in Boston, she dominated the race from the very beginning. She led through the first 1600m by a mere 4:49:76, as the reports say.

Beyond just the win track

Parker Valby stated to the FloTrack reporters that her only goal was to win, but the record she made just came side by side. Unintentionally prepared for the title she received this season, Parker Valby answered the question of making the record was easy. She said, “Honestly, on a scale of one to 10, it was like a six or seven. I wouldn’t say it was ‘easy,’ like I wasn’t jogging in the park.”

Read More: NCAA 5000m Champion Parker Valby Becomes the First Female Track and Field Athlete to Sign an NIL Deal With Nike

Being the first female athlete to break the 15-minute hurdle in the history of collegiate NCAA Championships, Parker Valby views the 3000m next to be held at the NCAA Championships. Her fandom awaits what new she’d establish in the 3000m mark this time!

Read More: Video: Coco Gauff, Summer McIntosh, Parker Valby, and More Prove Why Women’s Sports Need More Recognition