Parker Valby is the most talented girl in the country

What was Houlihan’s pb after first and second years at BTC?

Wouldn’t surprise me if Valby was faster.

Cook is even more suspicious than Valby.

I have no idea what her training was like, but in hs she seemed to run a lot of races every year until 2020 (as a senior). One might think she was training steadily. 10:10 for 3200 as a junior but other than that no truly outstanding times.

fl.milesplit.com

Parker Valby - Stats

Link:fl.milesplit.com/athletes/6334106-park...

How much do they test? I read no blood tests but not sure if that is accurate.

No blood tests and not much at all.

Iv’e heard the winners of championship races do get tested.

It would be funny if Valby obviously let Tuohy win.

I don't think you can blood test in the ncaa, I think it is just urine

People thought it was odd that Valby did not race the trials last year. It is all a tangled web.

Something tells me she and her coach don’t know about 5k track conversion algorithms.

This is definitely an oversight.

No web. Just a runner who is very talented but is injury prone. Cook is the same. My son was similar. He ran 4:10 his junior year of HS on 20 MPW but was injured soph and senior years. He ran 3:45 in college a few times on no training but was injured 75% of the time.

Like I said earlier it was basically daring people to call it out. Well OK.

3 seconds slower than Zola Budd…

at the same age…

It seems to me if it was all talent she would have been faster in hs when she was running full seasons. But I am just speculating.

I find it hard to believe that this kind of talent explodes out of nowhere at age 20 while pool running and injured. Not to say she wasn't talented before but it's certainly suspicious.

The thing I always say about this sport is that there is a magical pill that can turn mules into race horses as Fignon once put it. Nothing really prevents doping in college if the athlete or program is so inclined. What it means for practical purposes is that there are a bunch of runners right now in college who if they decided to dope could run sub-15. This is the so-called "pro progression", and if someone really goes all in you get runners like Houlihan who had a PR of 15:49 in college running in the 14:20s as a pro. You hope the sport is clean but you can never be naive, and when an athlete red-flags in terms of their progression you just have to face up to it. This was a legitimate Leroy Jenkins moment, making it so seemingly obvious that it insults our intelligence. Did they not know the conversion algorithm was there?

I don’t know, it is amazing how much she has improved significantly over the past year, while being injured a couple times and having to miss big chunks of time. That being said, she is much thinner than high school, which could make a difference in her performance, but would it make that much of a difference? Anyone who says she looks similar to how she looked in high school is completely wrong. Compare her senior year in high school with sophomore year of college; completely different. By the way, in high school she was known to be a high mileage runner, not sure if this helps her case or not.

Valby ran 10:10 in 2019 as a junior, then only 10:40 in 2020, in high school in Florida. So, no, she wasn't training steadily. She was obviously injured and missing training.

How do you know that?

I did say UNTIL 2020.