December is when the indoor track and field season gets started in the NCAA. Many college teams don’t even bother competing that early since they have to take a break for Christmas vacation anyway. It is rare for any significant performances to occur that early in the season. But apparently Parker Valby never got that memo. On Saturday, December 2 she ran at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener and broke the collegiate record for the indoor 5K.

The truth is that Parker Valby is right now the queen of the track in the NCAA. Up until now her career was best described as an emerging challenger to Katlyn Tuohy. Which transformed into her proving she might even be better be at this point. However, her collegiate record is proof that the only way to beat her is to learn how to compete on her level. Unfortunately for her competition in the NCAA it doesn’t seem that anyone is able to learn how to do it fast enough.

Why is Parker Valby’s Indoor Collegiate Record so special?

The collegiate record that Parker Valby broke was one that she shattered. She ran 14 minutes and 56 seconds to do it. The old record was almost 20 seconds slower than the one she just put on the boards. If you need perspective for that, if any man broke the collegiate record in the indoor 60 meter dash by that large a percentage, he would be the world record holder. She beat a field of pros and top collegians in order to win that race. Yet it is also noteworthy that she accomplished all of this in her first race of the indoor season. A season immediatly after she won the cross country national meet just a few weeks before. Typically speaking distance runners who competed all the way through cross country, aren’t expected to compete much at all, until at least a month or 2 later. Even if they do, nobody expects them to break records during those performances. Parker Valby’s record is also impressive because it feels like it is a movie script that is very familiar. During the season prior in 2023 Katelyn Tuohy was the queen of the track, with record breaking performances indoors to go with it.

Parker Valby is dominating the NCAA just like Katelyn Tuohy did i the 2022-2023 season

Last year Katelyn broke the internet and collegiate records in both the mile and the 3K. She did it in January and later in February on the way to winning double gold at the  NCAA indoor championships. That was immediately after winning the cross country national meet herself. At that time Katelyn looked unbeatable because for the most part she was by anyone in a college uniform. She went almost a full calendar year without losing a college race, a run that started at the NCAA outdoor meet, and continued into cross country, and later the indoor campaign. 

Parker Valby’s performances from May until now are essentially a repeat of everything Katelyn had accomplished. She is actually ahead of schedule. She won gold at the NCAA outdoor championship meet, went undefeated in cross country, and is now breaking records during the indoor season. It is also noteworthy the margin by which she shattered this record so early in the season.

According to her high school performances Parker Valby was never supposed to be this good. She may have been destined for greatness, but nobody who was evaluating her performances only from those results would have predicted this run of dominance. Apparently she spent much of her career battling injuries earlier on. That is a common occurrence across many distance runners to battle chronic injuries. That alone doesn’t make Parker special. What matters is that she has overcome them to run faster than any woman has ever run in a college uniform. 

The Bottom Line

Both Katelyn Tuohy and Parker Valby have changed  the game in college distance running. They have made a name for themselves that transcends the distance events. It is a matter of opinion which one is greater. Perhaps it is the athlete who proved she could be this great in the modern era, or the one who is seemingly improving on that blueprint. All that matters is that Parker Valby seems to be focused on running fast time and time again. So fast in fact, that she is going to break the internet along with collegiate records just like Katelyn did a year ago.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, RUN GOOD.

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