Simon Fraser University track athlete Helen Crofts has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's female co-athlete of the year along with Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen.
The award is voted on by the conference's 10 athletic directors, who rank their top three choices for the award. Crofts and Worthen each received 18 ballot points in the voting process.
Crofts won two national track titles and earned four All-American awards at the 2013 NCAA indoor and outdoor national championships.
At the indoor meet in March in Birmingham, Alabama, she won the 800-metre in a meet-record time of 2:05.96 and also led SFU to a third-place finish in the distance medley relay and an eighth-place finish in the 4x400m relay.
Crofts completed a sweep of the 800m titles at the outdoor meet in May at Pueblo, Colorado, finishing first in a time of 2:08.18.
A week prior to the outdoor national meet, she finished ninth in the U.S.A. track and field high performance distance classic at Occidental.
Her time of 2:02.10 was not only a Great Northwest record, but was also the third-fastest time by a collegiate athlete this spring at all levels.
Crofts was selected the conference indoor athlete of the year. She won the 800m title at the conference meet in a time of 2:12.29 and led the Clan to wins in both relays.
At the outdoor conference meet, Crofts swept the 400 and 1500m titles, winning the 400 in a meet-record time of 54.46 and the 1500 in 4:26.85.
Crofts, who was also named the United States Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association west region athlete of the year, also led the Clan to a second-place finish in the 4x400m relay in a time of 3:46.04.
The conference will announce the GNAC Scholar Athletes of the Year next week.
