Parker Valby and Leo Neugebauer capped their stellar collegiate careers with some of the most coveted hardware for college athletes as both won The Bowerman on Thursday.
For Valby, the win was a cornerstone during a year when she set her fourth NCAA record of 2024, and part of an overall run that saw her win five individual titles in a single academic year at the University of Florida.
“There were many moments during my running career when I thought about quitting, so it’s very surreal and I’m grateful to be here,” Valby said during her acceptance speech. “It really, truly takes a village to succeed at this level and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without my entire support system.”
Valby faced stiff competition for the award, with Harvard’s Maia Ramsden and Oregon’s Jaida Ross both making a case during their own collegiate campaigns. Ramsden won back-to-back titles in the 1,500m at the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Outdoors Championships, while Ross became just the seventh American woman — and first collegiate woman — to push past 20 meters in the shot put in the spring.
But Valby’s resume was solid, with NCAA indoor wins in the 3,000m and 5,000 along with outdoor titles in the 5,000 and the 10,000m. In eight finals appearances in her college career, Valby did not lose a race and propelled herself to an appearance at the Paris Olympics in the women’s 10,000m final for Team USA.
“If you’re out there with dreams of competing in track and field — or in any sport — don’t let anyone ever tell you what you can and can’t do,” Valby added during the ceremony. “And do it your own way.”
The awards were handed out in a ceremony in Orlando, where prior Bowerman winners like Sha’Carri Richardson, Jenny Simpson, Julien Alfred and Christian Coleman were in attendance.
Neugebauer’s win in the men’s category signals a full circle moment after he was named a Bowerman 2023 finalist.
He excelled in the decathlon during his time at Texas, becoming just the seventh man in history to eclipse 8,900 points in the event at the NCAA Division Outdoor Championships earlier in the year with his 8,961-point total.
But his victory on Thursday in Orlando was far from landslide.
Caleb Dean and Christopher Morales Williams clearly had the credentials to be in the running for the award, with Dean become the first becoming the first male athlete in NCAA history to win titles in the 60m hurdles and 400m hurdles in the same year in 2024 for Texas Tech. Morales Williams dominated on the indoor track for Georgia, with a speedy 44.67 than landed him NCAA Indoor indoor honors.
However, the night belonged to Neugebauer who topped his 2024 season with a second place decathlon finish for Germany (8748 points) at the Paris Games. When he receive his award, Neugebauer made a point of giving special recognition to his coaches over the year and parents, but also highlighted the challenges that come with the decathalon.
“Every decathlete loves doing it until it comes to the 1,500 and then we just want to die,” Neugebauer joked in his acceptance speech. “It’s definitely a lot of person to carry around the track for almost four laps. I’ve come a long way.”
