Simon Fraser University track and field athlete Helen Crofts was voted the 2012-13 Great Northwest Athletic Conference female scholar-athlete of the year.
Crofts along with male winner David Downs of Seattle Pacific, will now be candidates for the 2013 Conference Commissioners Scholar-Athlete of the year award, which will be selected this summer.
Crofts received seven of 10 first-place votes in the balloting by the conference's athletic directors.
The award comes a week after Crofts was named the conference co-female athlete of the year.
Crofts had an impressive career not only on the track, but also in the classroom at SFU, compiling a near-perfect 4.14 grade point average.
A biological science major with a concentration in cells, molecules and physiology, Crofts compiled the highest grade point average among Clan athletes in 2012-13, earning the Bill DeVries Award for excellence in academics and athletics. She accomplished all that academically while also winning two national titles and four All-American awards during the 2013 NCAA indoor and outdoor national championships.
In the indoor meet in March in Birmingham, Alabama, Crofts won the 800-metre in a meet-record time of 2:05.96, and also led the Clan to a third-place finish in the distance medley relay and an eighth-place finish in the 4x400 metre relay.
Crofts completed a sweep of 800m titles in the outdoor meet in May at Pueblo, Colorada, 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 & field high performance distance classic at Occidental. Her time of 2:02.10 was not only a Great Northwest conference record, but was also the third-fastest time by a collegiate athlete this spring at all levels.
Crofts was selected the Great Northwest indoor athlete of the year. She won the 800m title at the conference meet in a time of 2:12.29. Crofts also led the Clan to wins in both relays.
In the outdoor conference meet, Crofts swept the 400 and 1,500m titles, winning the 400 in a meet-record time of 54.46 and the 1,500 in a time of 4:26.85.
Crofts was also named the West Region athlete of the year, leading the Clan to a second-place finish in the 4x400m relay in a time of 3:46.04.
