Saturday, November 20
Tallahassee, Fla. / Apalachee Regional Park
W: 6K @ 10:20 AM
Florida Gators
at
NCAA Championships
Valby Set to Compete at NCAA XC National Championships on Saturday
Thursday, November 18, 2021 | Cross Country
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Only 12 Florida Gators women's cross country runners have received individual bids into the NCAA XC National Championships in program history.
Parker Valby is now the 13th.
Florida has competed at nationals a total of 24 seasons – whether it was as a team or individually – before this year. The highest outing an individual has had at nationals was in 1984 when Shelly Steely placed second. Steely also posted another top-10 finish as she placed ninth at the 1981 AIAW Cross Country Championships. She has been the only Gator to grab top-10 finishes in school history at the national championship.
Valby has the chance to do the same as she travels to Tallahassee for the NCAA XC Championships.
The Tampa native has continued to dominate each week of competition so far, recording five new personal records, five top Gator finishes, three top-10 outings, All-SEC and All-South Region honors, and four record book performances.
In her first meet of the season, Valby was the first Gator to cross the finish line at the home Mountain Dew Invitational with a PR 4k time of 13:44.9 to place second.
In the following meet, Valby posted a 36th-place finish out of 192 athletes at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. She ran the 5k in a time of 16:54.3, which is a new personal best and ranks 10th all-time in 5k school history.
She would go on to collect yet another personal record, this time in the 6k, after running a time of 20:19.9 at the FSU Pre-Nationals meet to place 28th out of 246. Not only was this time a PR by almost a minute and a half, but she just missed a record book spot by a few seconds.
Coming into the SEC Championships with the eighth-best 6k time in the conference, Valby put on a show at the conference meet. Leading through the first 4k, Valby ran an impressive race from start to finish to secure the 4th-place spot with another PR of 20:11.8. Her performance garnered her All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Freshman Team accolades, while it also ranks sixth in the program's SEC 6k history and was (then) sitting at 10th all-time in Florida's 6k history.
The Gator came out firing at the NCAA South Regional meet two weeks later. Leading Florida for every meet in the 2021 season, Valby finished in second place just behind the defending national champion from Alabama, Mercy Chelangat, with a new 6k PR of 19:41.38. Her time broke the program's regional 6k record of 20:00.10, set by Olympian Cory McGee in 2013, while also ranking third all-time in 6k marks. Her All-Region performance made her the fourth Gator to place in the top two spots in Florida's regional history.
The NCAA XC Championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 20, with the women's 6k race starting at 10:20 a.m. at Apalachee Regional Park, a course Valby is familiar with.
"Parker has put together a strong season that really took off at SECs and continued at the regional meet," assistant coach Chris Solinsky said. "She has dedicated herself to taking her running to the next level and she has been gaining confidence with each race. We are looking forward to put an exclamation point on a strong season this weekend. She's fit, she's confident, she's tough and she's ready."
Follow along with the Gators on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at FloridaGators.com.
Parker Valby is now the 13th.
Florida has competed at nationals a total of 24 seasons – whether it was as a team or individually – before this year. The highest outing an individual has had at nationals was in 1984 when Shelly Steely placed second. Steely also posted another top-10 finish as she placed ninth at the 1981 AIAW Cross Country Championships. She has been the only Gator to grab top-10 finishes in school history at the national championship.
Valby has the chance to do the same as she travels to Tallahassee for the NCAA XC Championships.
The Tampa native has continued to dominate each week of competition so far, recording five new personal records, five top Gator finishes, three top-10 outings, All-SEC and All-South Region honors, and four record book performances.
In her first meet of the season, Valby was the first Gator to cross the finish line at the home Mountain Dew Invitational with a PR 4k time of 13:44.9 to place second.
In the following meet, Valby posted a 36th-place finish out of 192 athletes at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. She ran the 5k in a time of 16:54.3, which is a new personal best and ranks 10th all-time in 5k school history.
She would go on to collect yet another personal record, this time in the 6k, after running a time of 20:19.9 at the FSU Pre-Nationals meet to place 28th out of 246. Not only was this time a PR by almost a minute and a half, but she just missed a record book spot by a few seconds.
Coming into the SEC Championships with the eighth-best 6k time in the conference, Valby put on a show at the conference meet. Leading through the first 4k, Valby ran an impressive race from start to finish to secure the 4th-place spot with another PR of 20:11.8. Her performance garnered her All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Freshman Team accolades, while it also ranks sixth in the program's SEC 6k history and was (then) sitting at 10th all-time in Florida's 6k history.
The Gator came out firing at the NCAA South Regional meet two weeks later. Leading Florida for every meet in the 2021 season, Valby finished in second place just behind the defending national champion from Alabama, Mercy Chelangat, with a new 6k PR of 19:41.38. Her time broke the program's regional 6k record of 20:00.10, set by Olympian Cory McGee in 2013, while also ranking third all-time in 6k marks. Her All-Region performance made her the fourth Gator to place in the top two spots in Florida's regional history.
The NCAA XC Championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 20, with the women's 6k race starting at 10:20 a.m. at Apalachee Regional Park, a course Valby is familiar with.
"Parker has put together a strong season that really took off at SECs and continued at the regional meet," assistant coach Chris Solinsky said. "She has dedicated herself to taking her running to the next level and she has been gaining confidence with each race. We are looking forward to put an exclamation point on a strong season this weekend. She's fit, she's confident, she's tough and she's ready."
Follow along with the Gators on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at FloridaGators.com.
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