Collegiate Running Association announces 2015 Athletes of the Year

(Richmond, VA) - Kellyn Taylor (Coconino CC, AZ / Northern Arizona Elite) and Joseph Gray (Calvary Bible College, CO) are the 2015 Collegiate Running Association Athletes of the Year.

2015 Female Athlete of the Year - Kellyn Taylor

Kellyn Taylor has been prolific on both the track and on the roads in recent years, as she has won national championships, qualified for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Trials, and represented Team USA in international competition. In addition to running professionally for Northern Arizona Elite, based out of Flagstaff, Arizona, Kellyn has also been pursuing a degree in Fire Science from Coconino CC.

In 2015 Taylor claimed her second consecutive CRA 10k Road Race Championship victory at the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond, VA. Additionally, Kellyn also solidified herself as a 2016 Olympic Team contender at the Chevron Houston Marathon in January when she ran the sixth-fastest American debut in the marathon, 2:28:40. With new PR's in the 10k (32:29) and Half Marathon (1:10:59) also set in 2015, Taylor now has her eyes set on the 2016 US Olympic Team Trials in the Marathon, which will be held in Los Angeles on February 13, 2016.

Follow Kellyn on twitter @kjxcountry16

2015 Male Athlete of the Year - Joseph Gray

Joseph Gray added plenty to his long list of accomplishments in road racing, mountain running, and trail running in 2015. Gray, a nine-time US Champion and 19-time Team USA member, studies at Calvary Bible College in Colorado while training professionally in Colorado Springs. Better known in the mountain and trail running communities, where he was recently named USATF Mountain Runner of the Year for the sixth time, Gray has also had plenty of success on the roads and will be on the starting line at the 2016 US Olympic Team Trials in the Marathon in February.

In 2015 Gray was a fixture at CRA championship events. In fact, in the six championships hosted since the CRA was started in 2014, Gray has finished in the top-two four times. At the 2015 10k Road Race Championships, Gray finished runner-up to the CRA's 2014 Runner of the Year, Tyler McCandless. A few months later, Gray won the CRA Trail Running Championships at the first-ever Indiana Urban Wilderness Run in Indianapolis, IN. Gray capped off his 2015 CRA campaign in July at the Mountain Running Championships in Bend, OR, where he finished 2nd and qualified for yet another US Mountain Running Team in the process.     

Follow Gray on twitter @joegeezi

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