Florida Standout Broke Her Own Collegiate Record To Win 5,000, Complete Double; Maia Ramsden Wins 1,500; Juliette Whittaker Wins 800 For Indoor/Outdoor Sweep

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Logan Hannigan-Downs photos

EUGENE, Ore. – Parker Valby held up six fingers when she crossed the finish line of the women’s 5,000 meters.

Each one signified every title she has won within the past 12 months, including an unprecedented five of them this academic year, with one from cross country, two from indoor and now two from outdoor.

The Florida Gator went out the best possible way with national title number six as she bested her own absolute collegiate record in 14 minutes, 52.18 seconds Saturday at Hayward Field to wrap up another historic NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships.

And Valby did her part on the team side as well scoring 20 points to help Florida finish second in the team standings behind Arkansas, which won 63-59.

“It met my expectations,” Valby said. “I got the job done, got the most points I could for my team and a PB, so it’s awesome.”

It marks the fourth time Valby set a championship record at an NCAA meet, dating back to her first two record-breaking performances in Boston during the past indoor season and less than 48 hours ago in the 10,000.

But this one had a different feeling to it, especially since it was her final time representing the Florida Gators.

“They all have their own special story behind them,” Valby said. “Honestly, all of them. Super grateful and still processing all of it honestly.”

Valby kept it honest from the start. Only Kenyan competitor Hilda Olemomoi of Alabama managed to hang with her through 8.5 laps before she broke away the latter half to against the clock.

The end resulted in an 18-second victory over the Alabama junior, who ran 15:10.04 for second.

Valby’s dominance managed to pull 10 of the top 12 racers, including herself, to seasons-best or personal-best times.

Colorado’s Bailey Hertenstein almost ran down Olemomoi in the final few meters but settled for third in a personal-best 15:10.98, with teammate Ella Baran earning a spot on the podium with a seventh-place run of 15:28.43, also a personal best.

Texas Tech’s Juliet Cherubet and BYU’s Sadie Sargent were the only other two podium finishers to run lifetime bests, with Cherubet running 15:25.41 for fifth and Sargent running 15:30.64 for eighth.

Oklahoma State’s Taylor Roe joins Valby and Olemomoi as the third athlete to double back from the 10,000 and finish on the podium in both, with a season’s-best effort of 15:26.18 to finish sixth.

Margot Appleton of Virginia was the lone podium athlete that didn’t run a personal best, finishing fourth in 15:24.24.

Valby wasn’t the only one to carry over her dominance from the winter when it came to sweeping both the indoor and outdoor titles in an event.

Harvard’s Maia Ramsden and Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker set the tone themselves before Valby hit the track in their respective events to go along with their own indoor titles.

Ramsden completed her first 1,500 and indoor mile sweep, running 4:06.62 in the 1,500 to go with her mile win during the indoor season, becoming the first female athlete to sweep both championships in the same year since British competitor Charlotte Browning of Florida in 2010.

Ramsden brings her total to three national titles, going back to Austin, Texas at last year’s outdoor championships when she won her first 1,500 title.

“It was a hard one,” Ramsden said laughing. “I thought it was just me and (coach) Gibby was like, ‘that was a hard one.’ Great, glad we agreed.” 

It took running the final 800 in 2:05 and beating her fellow countrywoman Kimberley May of Providence, who finished second in 4:08.07, giving New Zealand a 1-2 punch ahead of Polish athlete Klaudia Kazimierska of Oregon in 4:08.22 for third.

Georgetown’s Melissa Riggins earned fourth in 4:08.74, with Florida’s Flomena Asekol placing fifth in 4:08.91, Providence’s Shannon Flockhart finishing sixth in 4:09.53, Virginia Tech’s Lindsey Butler taking seventh in 4:09.85 and Texas’ Olivia Howell running to eighth in 4:10.05.

Whittaker backed up her indoor title in the 800 to win the outdoor 800 over heavily favored Michaela Rose of LSU in 1:59.61, becoming the first female competitor since Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers in 2017 to capture both indoor and outdoor championships in the same year.

Roisin Willis also responded in the end to finish second to her Stanford teammate in 2:00.17.

“It feels really special,” Whittaker said. “Every time that we’ve done a final at an NCAA meet together, we got one and two, because we did that last year in indoor and this year in outdoor, so it’s special.”

Unlike their indoor race where Whittaker gained ground on Rose on the bell lap, Whittaker ran on the heels of the LSU star from the start and remained patient until 150 to go to before sprinting ahead in the final 100.

Willis was stuck in sixth on the final turn and found some room to swing wide into lane three to pass the field to give the Cardinal the 1-2 punch in the end, helping Stanford become the first women’s program since Wisconsin in 1993 to take the top two spots in the outdoor 800 final.

“In the back of my head, I was just like, ‘give it all you got; you never know what can happen’,” Willis said. “The fact that I ended up second, I mean, it doesn’t even feel real.”

Oklahoma State’s Gabija Galvydyte ran close to her lifetime best of 2:00.11 from the preliminary round to finish third in 2:00.23 following a runner-up finish behind Rose last year and another third-place effort in 2022 at Hayward Field.

Rose settled for fourth after entering the final with the only sub-2 performance in Thursday’s prelims, running 2:01.03.

Penn State’s Hayley Kitching ran a lifetime-best 2:01.05 to earn fifth. 

Sanu Jallow of Arkansas placed sixth in 2:01.07, with Ohio State’s Aniya Mosley and Duke’s Lauren Tolbert rounded out the podium in seventh and eighth, respectively, in 2:01.23 and 2:01.95.