University of Miami Athletics

Natalie Varela

position

Distance

Class

Junior

High School

Gulliver Prep

Hometown

Miami, Fla.

Instagram

@natalievarelaa

Natalie Varela - Cross Country - University of Miami Athletics

2023 Outdoor: Earned two personal bests in one day at the Pepsi Florida Relays (4/1) in the 800m with 2:05.05 and in the 1500m with 4:20.04. Her 800m time notches fifth in the outdoor top-five record book, while her 4:20.04 in the 1500m was a new program record…finished ninth at the 63rd Annual Mt. SAC Relays (4/15) in the 800m with 2:05.60…placed first at the UNF East Coast Relays as part of the 4×400 relay team with a time of 3:35.42…placed ninth at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 800m with 2:06.14.

2023 Indoor: Started her indoor season at the Louisville Cardinal Classic (1/14), placing second in the 800m with 2:09.43…earned third at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic (2/3) with 2:06.52 in the 800m…earned a personal best and the second-best time in school history of 4:50.46 in the mile and placed ninth in the 800m at the Music City Challenge (2/10)…placed fifth and scored for the women’s team at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships (2/25) in the 800m, finishing fifth with 2:06.01 and cementing her name at number two in the program indoor top-five record book.

2022 Cross Country: Began her cross country season at the UCF Cross Country Invite (9/2), placing tenth in the 5K with 18:54.9…placed 16th at the Virginia Invitational (9/16) with a time of 18:14.8 in the 5K, a time 40 seconds faster than her previous appearance…placed eighth at the FSU Invitational (10/7) with a personal best of 17:38.6 in the 5K, a time that also stands at fifth in the program cross country record book.

2022 Outdoor: Made her 2022 outdoor season debut at the Miami Hurricane Invitational (3/19), placing second in the 1500m with 4:33.85…one week later placed second in the same event, but three seconds faster at the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational (3/26) with 4:30.11…placed third at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational (4/9) in the 800m with 2:06.80…earned fifth in the 800m with 2:11.36 and the 1500m with 4:31.31 at the LSU Alumni Gold (4/23)…earned her first finals appearance at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships (5/14), placing third in the 800m prelims with 2:06.39, then scoring in the 800m final with 2:06.13, good for sixth place and a point towards the 2022 conference championship team.

2022 Indoor: Broke the 1000m indoor program record at the UAB Blazer Invitational (1/14) with 2:52.44, also placed second with the 4×400 B team with 3:49.23…placed second at the Carolina Challenge (1/22) in the 800m with 2:09.33…placed third at the Meyo Invitational (2/5) in the 800m with 2:10.73…earned first place and cemented the program record as part of the DMR team at the Tiger Paw Invite (9/12) with a time of 11:27.44…placed eleventh with the same DMR team at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships (2/26) with 11:51.72

2021 Cross Country: Posted the ninth fastest 5K time in program history at the XC23 Invitational, 18:19.6… recorded the seventh best 6K time in Miami history of 21:38.3 at the Paul Short Run… opened the season in the 5K at the FAU Invitational with a finish of 18:35.42… crossed the finish line in the 6K at the FSU XC Open in 23:10.8… ran a 6K time of 22:43.7 at the ACC Championships… finished the season with a time of 22:28.45 in the 6K at NCAA South Regionals.

2021 Outdoor: Finished second in the 1500m with a personal best time of 4:38.73 in the Hurricane Invitational and helped an all-freshman 4×400 relay team win the event with a time of 3:45.74…

2021 Indoor:  Made her collegiate debut at the Bob Pollock Invitational in the 800m running a time of 2:19.77 and the mile in 5:17.91…Ran a collegiate-best time of 2:15.73 in the women’s 800m and ran the mile in 5:06.82 at the Tiger Paw Invite…

2020 Cross Country: Made her Hurricanes debut at the Mountain Dew Invitational in the 6K with a time of 23:44.9…Competed in her first 5K with the Hurricanes at the FSU Invitational, running a time of 19:09.6… Ran at the ACC Cross Country Championships in the 6K with a time of 23:47.9 to end the season.

Personal: In her junior year at Gulliver Prep, Varela was a two-time State Champion in the 800 and the 1600 in 2019. She boasted two personal best times of 2:09.82 and 4:57.64, respectively… Was a gold medalist in the judo Junior Olympics and was a national champion in jiu jitsu…pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sports administration