Tampa native Parker Valby ‘super grateful’ to reach Paris Olympics

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa native and East Lake High School alum, Parker Valby, punched her ticket to Paris after coming in second place in the 10,000-meter race, finishing with a time of 31:41.56.

“In the end, I made it on two teams which was pretty incredible, which is crazy to say. I never expected that, so [I’m] super grateful,” Valby said.

Reaching the Olympics is something Valby has pictured, she even has a vision board with a picture of the Summer Games on it.

“I put it on my fridge. My coach made us do them during a recruiting visit in December for the new year and I was like, ‘Oh no, that’s silly that my coach said put it on your fridge,'” Valby said.

The 21-year-old has six NCAA championship titles . She earned five in just one year alone.

Valby, who attends the University of Florida, is also the current NCAA record holder for the indoor 5,000-meter, outdoor 5,000-meter, and outdoor 10,000-meter.

“I think my favorite year was probably this year because, obviously, I got to run three whole seasons, so that was new for me. I had a lot of fun doing that and I had [great] teammates to do it with,” the track and field star said.

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