Parker Valby is the NCAA record holder in the 10000m, outdoor 5000m and indoor 5000m. Valby winning 6 NCAA championships, makes Valby a better distance runner than Tuohy.
Parker Valby wins her 6th NCAA Title and sets a new record in the outdoor 5000m. Parker Valby has won more NCAA Titles than Tuohy. Valby is the greatest of all time.
I thought Parker was a junior. Parker is the greatest of this class and the greatest 5-10-cross collegian of all time. Don't forget: Simpson's 5K outdoor record KT broke May 6th of last year was 14 years old. She happened to usher in a mob of brilliantly talented runners, many of whom credit Katelyn with inspiring them when they were in middle school. After all, she's been on the national scene for almost ten years. She still holds the indoor collegiate 1500, mile and 3000, and while Maia is breathing down her neck (she's a few hundredths behind in the 15 and maybe half a second in the mile) her 3000 record of 8:35 may hold up for a while. The next best is Olivia at 8:40, and then Parker at 8:41. Actually, I think it's hard to compare Tuohy and Parker on the basis of two distances plus XC, as their progress in cross and track was different and their impact on both are different. I was in a discussion on Let'sRun a few weeks ago about who is the GOAT. It comes down to what do you mean by GOAT? Tuohy is indisputably the greatest high school cross country runner of all time and basically a Jenny Simpson-class collegiate track runner. Mary Cain is the greatest high school track runner of all time and we'll never know what she would have achieved in college. Mary Decker was a high school Olympian who dominated American distance running at a time when women's running was still young. Parker is the product of this heritage, and looking at what's coming along now with Addy Ritzenhein, Jane Hetengren, Beth Leachman, Sadie Englehardt and others, it may be that her achievement as a collegian may not hold up any better than KT's. Her greatest contribution may turn out to be her paradigm-shifting training regimen. I am really looking forward to the Olympic Trials, which it appears will be Katelyn's pro debut. Both Parker and Katelyn are on the 5000 list, Parker with the fifth fastest time behind St. Pierre, Andrews, Henes and Cranny. KT is 17th based on a 15:15 she ran after June 1 of last year. If Katelyn is competitive, it will be an interesting complication in this emerging story.
Valby is eligible for another year, but it looks like she will forgo it. With the ones you mentioned, plus Schweizer and Kelati in the mix... it's a tall order for Valby, Tuohy, Hertenstein, and Roe. But Valby's been dominating ncaa over the last year. What happens when she's challenged? I look forward to it also.
