Elon’s Cross Country’s Ciolkowski, Johansen Claim CAA Runner of the Week Awards

RICHMOND, Va. – For the second time this season, the Elon University cross country programs had two members earn Colonial Athletic Association weekly awards as sophomore Nick Ciolkowski and senior Kimberly Johansen were selected as the CAA Men’s and Women’s Runners of the Week, respectively, as announced on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

This is the second weekly honor this season for Ciolkowski and the third overall for the Phoenix men in 2016. The Fairport, N.Y., native earned a top-15 finish at the Greater Louisville Classic this past Saturday, Oct. 1. Ciolkowski crossed the line 12th overall out of 312 competitors and set a new personal-record in the men’s 8K race with a time of 24:16.01 – the second-fastest performance in school history.

Johansen set a new school-record in the women’s 5K at the Greater Louisville Classic as the Chelmsford, England, native ran a 17:23.40 in the race. She finished 25th overall out of 368 runners and helped the Phoenix to a 10th-place finish at the competitive meet out of 36 teams. Johansen becomes the second Elon female harrier to receive a CAA weekly accolade this season after teammate Coralea Geraniotis took honors on Sept. 13.

The Phoenix returns to the course next weekend with the majority of the squad competing at the High Point VertKlasse XC Invitational on Friday Oct. 14. Select members will travel to the NCAA Pre-Nationals the following day in Terre Haute, Ind., the site of 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships.