Elon’s Geraniotis Named CAA Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year

RICHMOND, Va. – Senior Coralea Geraniotis of the Elon University women’s cross country team was named the Colonial Athletic Association Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year as announced on Tuesday, Nov. 27, by the league office.

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The Orleans, Mass., native became the first member of the program to earn an individual league championship at the Division I level with her victory at the CAA Championships on Oct. 26. The feat was also the fourth time between the men’s and women’s programs that a Phoenix athlete has claimed league medalist honors since Elon joined the CAA in 2014.

“We are proud of the work that Coralea put in during the summer and the adversity she overcame during the fall to earn this honor,” said Phoenix head cross country and assistant track and field coach Kevin Jermyn. “The highlight of her cross country season was certainly her winning the CAA cross country individual championship, which as a first for a female runner at Elon. Next, we look forward to seeing her progress into a national class distance runner on the track.”

Geraniotis clocked a personal-record time of 21:13.20 in the women’s 6K and edged out College of Charleston’s Tess Masselink for individual medalist honors at the CAA Championships. She helped the Phoenix women to a runner-up finish at the league meet as Elon just missed out on the team title as the maroon and golf finished with 65 points to William & Mary’s 63.

Geraniotis was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet and earned All-CAA accolades for the fourth straight season. She was twice named the CAA Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week this year including after running the third-fastest time in school history in the 5K (17:26) at the Queen City Invitational on Sept. 28.

The CAA also recognized its full all-conference team on Tuesday, comprised of the top-12 finishers at the CAA Championships. Along with Geraniotis, the Phoenix was also represented on the All-CAA women’s team by junior Melissa Anastasakis, who was 10th overall at the CAA Championships with her new personal-record time of 21:36.20.

On the men’s side, Nick Ciolkowski and Andrew Miller were All-CAA honorees for Elon. Ciolkowski was fourth overall at the league championships with his school-record time of 24:11.00 in the men’s 8K. Miller was 12th overall with a time of 24:41.80 – the third-best time in school history.