Track athlete Helen Crofts, who convocates from SFU this month, has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Female Co-Athlete of the Year, along with Seattle Pacific’s Ali Worthen.

The conference’s 10 athletic awards rank their top three choices for the award. Crofts and Worthen each received 18 ballot points in the voting process.

Crofts has won two national titles and earned four All-American awards in the 2013 National Collegiate Athletic Association indoor and outdoor national championships.  

At the indoor meet in March in Birmingham, AL, 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 (11:37.62) and an eighth-place finish in the 4x400 relay (3:47.14).  

She completed a sweep of the 800-metre titles at the outdoor meet in May at Pueblo, CO, finishing first in a time of 2:08.18.

A week prior to the outdoor national meet, she finished ninth in the USA Track & Field High Performance Distance Classic at Occidental.  Her time of 2:02.10 was not only a GNAC record but also was the third fastest time by a collegiate athlete this spring at all levels.        

Crofts was selected the GNAC Indoor Athlete of the Year. She won the 800-metre title at the conference meet (2:12.29) and led the Clan to wins in both relays in times of 3:48.36 and 11:47.86.

In the outdoor conference meet, she swept the 400 and 1500-meter titles, winning the 400 in a meet-record time of 54.46 and the 1500 in a time of 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 4x400 metre relay in a time of 3:46.04.