Talitha Diggs Chooses Florida


Talitha Diggs will attend the University of Florida next year.

The senior made the decision on Monday afternoon at her Saucon Valley High School in Hellertown before family, friends, and her classmates. The sprinter picked the Gators over LSU, USC, Stanford, South Carolina, and Texas.

"Florida has a great tradition," Diggs said. "It goes back so far from other Jersey and Pennsylvania girls that have gone down there and broken national record and got national title."

Diggs, whose mother is four-time Olympian Joetta Clark-Diggs, sees Gainesville as a place that she hopes will take her sprinting to the next level. She was impressed by Gators coach Mike Holloway especially.

"I wholeheartedly trust him," Diggs said of her future coach. "He's an amazing coach. Often people pay attention to his boys program, but he's done amazing things with his girls program."

The academic angle was also important to her. She will major in sport management at Florida, which Diggs said ranks No. 1 in the country. On her visit to Gainesville, her host was former Pennsylvania high school star and current Gator Gabrielle Wilkinson, a 2018 Friends' Central graduate. 

Diggs enters her senior season on the heels of a junior season that saw her rise through the ranks as one of the nation's top sprinters. She is Pennsylvania's top returner in the 100m, 200m, and 400m. She is the nation's No. 6 returner in the 100m, the No. 9 returner in the 200m, and the No. 7 returner in the 400m.

Diggs improved on her personal best in the 400 meters by 1.39 seconds to win her first PIAA state title last spring, running a time of 52.82 for the AAA crown. That broke a 33-year-old state meet record. She added a 200 meter AAA state title later in the day at states. At New Balance Nationals Outdoor, a few weeks after the state meet, Diggs placed second in the 100 meters in 11.52 and fourth in the 200 meters in 23.36, both personal bests.

During the indoor season, Diggs won the PTFCA state title in the 400 meters in 54.86 and went on to take fifth at New Balance Nationals Indoor in 54.21, an indoor best.

This year, Diggs will have a shot at all-time Pennsylvania records in the 400 meters, which stand at 52.19 indoors (Nicole Leach, 2004) and 51.55 outdoors (Sharon Dabney, 1977).

Diggs still has a big senior season on the track ahead of her, but she made a made an important decision for her future on Monday. Watch her announcement below.