Kemei, Ahm Earn CAA Athlete of the Year awards, Elliston is Coach of the Year
The Elon University women’s track and field team took home three of the major postseason awards for the Colonial Athletic Association as Scolasticah Kemei and Maria Ahm were selected as the league’s Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and Women’s Rookie of the Year, respectively, on Thursday, June 24 as announced by the league office. In addition, the Phoenix’s Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mark Elliston was honored as the CAA Women’s Coach of the Year.
Kemei became the Phoenix’s first Track Athlete of the Year in the CAA after the Eldoret, Kenya, native earned a pair of CAA titles this past outdoor season. Kemei won the 10,000-meters run and the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the CAA Outdoor Championships and earned All-CAA accolades in the 5,000-meters, scoring 28 total points at the league meet. She was named the CAA Co-Track Athlete of the Meet and went on to finish 13th overall in the 5,000-meters at the NCAA East Preliminaries.
Ahm became the second Phoenix athlete to earn CAA Rookie of the Year accolades, joining Emily Dixon from 2015. The Holbæk, Denmark, native was the CAA champion in the 5,000-meter and was the runner-up behind Kemei in the 10,000-meters. She set a school-record in the 10,000-meters at the Raleigh Relays with a time of 33:43.82 earlier in the season and finished 17th overall at the NCAA East Preliminaries.
Elliston won his third CAA Coach of the Year award in 2021and his fifth conference Coach of the Year honor overall during his career at Elon. Elliston helped the Phoenix capture its third CAA outdoor championship in the past seven years as Elon scored 191.5 points at the league meet and had 13 athletes and its 4×400-meter relay team earn All-CAA honors.