Parker Valby and Graham Blanks dominated the cross country course this season and came away with individual national championships. They took their talents to Boston this past weekend and picked up where they left off.
Valby and Blanks raced against a loaded field at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Friday evening, and both Valby and Blanks took home the win in their respective fields and set NCAA 5000m records in the process.
Valby, who runs for the University of Florida, took home the win in the women’s 5000m against a talented field of athletes. Valby took the lead in the latter part of the race and never looked back, running a new personal best and NCAA record time of 14:56.11. Annie Rodenfels finished in second place, running a time of 15:03.97, while Ella Donaghu finished in third place with her time of 15:16.97.
Blanks, who competes for Harvard, made his move around the 400m mark and never looked back. He won the men’s 5000m with a new NCAA record time of 13:03.78. Ky Robinson finished in second place with his time of 13:06.42, while Sam Atkin finished in third with his time of 13:06.66.
