Valby's cross country win earns her USATF Athlete of the Week honors

INDIANAPOLIS — Winning the Nuttycombe Invitational women's 6K cross country title with a course record, Parker Valby (Gainesville, Florida/USATF Florida) earned recognition as the 37th USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2023.

Valby, a junior at the University of Florida who won the NCAA outdoor 5000 title in June, pulled away from defending NCAA cross country champion Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State and went on to win in 19:17.2 in wet and windy conditions. Valby and Tuohy were running together through 2K, passing that mark in 6:25, but by the 4K point Valby had started to ease away, going through in 13:00 with a seven-second gap on Tuohy. She increased that margin to 12.4 seconds at the finish.
 
Other top performances from last week:

• Ben Shearer led the Arkansas men to the team title at the pre-nationals meet in Virginia with a 22:55 8K performance that gave him a three-second margin of victory.
• Helping her BYU team to victory, Carmen Alder won the individual women's 6K title at the pre-nationals meet in Virginia by more than 10 seconds in 19:36.2.
• Graham Blanks of Harvard was the men's 8K champion at Wisconsin's Nuttycombe Invitational, clocking 23:23.4 to win by 2.7 seconds.

Now in its 22nd year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2023 Winners: January 17, Emily Sisson; January 24, Ednah Kurgat; January 31, Woody Kincaid; February 7, Grant Holloway; February 14, Yared Nuguse; February 21, Anna Hall; February 28, Talitha Diggs; March 7, Alicia Monson; March 14, Jasmine Moore; March 21, Keyzelle Thomas; March 28, Camille Herron; April 4, Hillary Bor; April 11, Valarie Allman; April 18, Britton Wilson; April 25, Brooke Andersen; May 2, Gabby Thomas; May 9, Connor Burns; May 16, Britton Wilson; May 23, Brooke Andersen; May 30, Ryan Crouser; June 6, KC Lightfoot; June 13, Grayson Murphy; June 20, Yared Nuguse; July 17, Gabby Thomas & Christian Miller; July 20, Ednah Kurgat; July 27, Nikki Hiltz; August 3, Quenton Lanese; August 10, Shawnti Jackson; August 17, Michelle Atherley; August 30, Ryan Crouser, Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson & Laulauga Tausaga-Collins; September 6, Yared Nuguse; September 13, Jenny Hitchings; September 20, Yared Nuguse; September 27, Weini Kelati; October 3, Hobbs Kessler; October 10, Conner Mantz; October 17, Parker Valby.

We welcome your nominations!

To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about their performance to communications@usatf.org.

Join the conversation with USATF on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #USATF.

Photo Credit: Gabriella Whisler