Elon University's Coralea Geraniotis and Nick Ciolkowski were named the Colonial Athletic Association's top freshmen in cross country for 2015, with Ciolkowski also taking home Athlete of the Year honors after claiming the league's individual men's title.
The Colonial Athletic Association honored two Elon University student-athletes this week with its Rookie of the Year awards for men’s and women’s cross country.
In addition to being named Rookie of the Year for men’s cross country, Elon freshman Nick Ciolkowski also landed the conference’s Athlete of the Year honor after claiming the league’s individual title in October at the CAA Cross Country Championship.
On the women’s side, Elon freshman Coralea Geraniotis – the top freshman finisher at the CAA Championships – was named the CAA Women’s Cross Country Rookie of the Year.
The Phoenix overall had five athletes recognized in for the 2015 CAA Cross Country season awards.
Ciolkowski became the first student-athlete to be named both the CAA Athlete and Rookie of the Year in the same season. The Fairport, N.Y., native with plans on majoring in biochemistry claimed the league’s individual title after positing a personal-best time of 24:22.3 in the 8K race, the second-best performance in school history.
Ciolkowski’s efforts earned him the Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet award and All-CAA honors. He concluded his rookie campaign as the top CAA finisher at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships, finishing 37 overall with a clock time of 30:38 in the 10K race.
Geraniotis, a native of Orleans, Mass., who intends to study business, was the top freshman finisher at the CAA Championships after finishing 15th overall with a time of 21:45. She was also the top CAA freshman finisher at NCAA Southeast Regional Championships, placing 61st overall. She got the season off to a strong start with a 23rd place finish at the Adidas XC Challenge with a 5K time of 18:19.
The league also honored junior Kimberly Johansen and senior Elyse Bierut from the Elon women’s team and senior Ryan Gwaltney from the Phoenix men’s program.
Johansen was the Phoenix’s top finisher at the CAA Championships as the Chelmsford, England, native clocked a time of 20:58.0 and was sixth overall. That time is the second-fastest performance on the school’s all-time performance list. She also finished 25th at the NCAA Southeast Regionals with her time of 21:38.6 and became second female runner in school history to receive All-Region accolades.
Bierut received All-CAA accolades for the second straight season. The Rocky River, Ohio, native was eighth overall at the CAA Championships after setting a new personal-best time of 21:03.8. She concluded her cross country career with a 40th-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships with her time of 22:01.7.
Bierut was the Phoenix female representative on the CAA All-Academic team while Gwaltney earned a spot on the men’s side. Gwaltney broke into the top-five in school history in the 10K at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships as the Anaheim Hills, Calif., native clocked in a 32:10.8 in the race.