2024 Athletes of the Year
Collegiate Running Association
Announces 2024 Athletes of the Year
(Richmond, VA) – Madison Trippett (University of Richmond) and Christian Allen (Brigham Young University) have been named the 2023 Collegiate Running Association Athletes of the Year.
2024 Female Athlete of the Year – Madison Trippett (University of Richmond)
Madison Trippett has been named the Collegiate Running Association’s Athlete of the Year Award after winning the 2024 Collegiate Road Mile National Championships in Winchester, Virginia. On a course that has seen many of the nations top runners, Trippett pulled away from a stellar field for the win in 4:36.30, the seconds fast in event history. The University of Richmond standout had a busy spring season with several exceptional races. Read about her 10K win here.
Along with winning the road Mile title, Trippett had a great year starting with a pair of wins in the Liberty Kickoff 3k (9:36.94) and followed with a 5k win at the Virginia Tech Invitational running 16:57.78. At the Rutgers Invitational she placed 2nd in the 3k (9:29.60) to teammate Elizabeth Stockman, and placed 4thin the Mile (4:46.89). At Boston University's David Hemery Valentine Invitational, she ran 4:43.19 for the Mile and anchored the Spider Distance Medley Relay to second place and a program record running a top 15 NCAA mark of 11:10.35. She had an impressive Atlantic 10 Conference Indoor Championships placing runner-up in the Mile (4:51.94) and 5k (16:54.60) while leading the Spiders 4x800m relay to victory with their 8:53.60 performance.
During the NCAA outdoor season, she qualified to compete in the 1500m for the 2024 NCAA Championships East Preliminary Round. She ended the regular season ranked nationally in the event after setting her qualifying mark of 4:17.98 with the 2nd place finish at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Along with her 1500m qualification, Trippett had a successful run in the 5K at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, taking the gold medal with a personal best of 16:30.85. In section 2 of the Penn Relays 1500m, she finished 2nd in a photo finish running 4:19.44. The following day she split 4:38.98 for the 1600M leg of the Spiders Distance Medley Relay which ran 11:03.47 to set a program record, rank 9th in the NCAA and moved the Spiders to #25 on the NCAA Outdoor DMR All-Time Program List. She was a member of the winning 4X800m relay (8:42.18) at the ECAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships splitting 2:07.32 as the second leg for the Spiders. Following the NCAA Championships, she repeated as the Collegiate Road Mile National Champion running 4:36.31 for the mile distance at the Loudoun Street Mile in Winchester, Virginia.
Visit Madison's World Athletics profile HERE for a complete list of her 2024 performances. Be sure to visit Madison's TFFRS profile HERE.
2024 Male Athlete of the Year – Christian Allen (Brigham Young University)
Christian Allen is the Collegiate Running Association’s Male Athlete of the Year. The Brigham Young University standout won the 2024 Collegiate Mountain Running National Championship, hosted by the Cirque Series Snowbird Race (Snowbird, Utah) to close a strong spring season. Along with the Collegiate Championships he also captured the USATF Mountain Running Championships to qualify for the World Mountain Running Championships where he represented team USA.
Allen capped a great spring for BYU where he set college bests of 7:55.00 in the 3,000M, 13:34.06 in the 5,000M and 28:26.35 in the 10,000M. In the 2025 Houston Marathon he ran a personal best of 2:10:32 as on of the top U.S. runners.
For an inside look at Christian's year checkout this article from Free Trail:
Read more about his Collegiate and USATF Mountain Running win here. Be sure to visit Christian's World Athletics profile HERE and his TFRRS profile.
Collegiate Running Association Athletes of the Year
2024- Madison Trippett (University of Richmond
Christian Allen (Brigham Young University)
2023- Ryen Frazier (North Carolina State University)
Stuart Terrill (University of Richmond)
2022- Gina McNamara (University of Michigan)
Joshua Park (Ohio University)
2021- Zoe Matherne (PSU-Dickinson Law)
Colin Cannon (George Mason University)
2020- Keira D'Amato (University of Michigan, MI)
Daniel Jaskowak (Virginia Tech, VA)
2019- Bethany Sachtleben (Northern Virginia College, VA)
Daniel Jaskowak (Virginia Tech, VA)
2018- Bethany Sachtleben (Northern Virginia College, VA)
Matthew McDonald (Georgia Tech, GA)
2017- Corey Dowe (University of New England, NH)
Patrick Smyth (University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI)
2016- Bethany Sachtleben (Northern Virginia College, VA)
Hayden Hawks (Southern Utah University, UT)
2015- Kellyn Taylor (Coconino College, AZ)
Joseph Gray (Calvary Bible College, CO)
2014- Megan Deakins Roche (Stanford University, CA)
Tyler McCandless (Penn State University, PA)
The Collegiate Running Association (CRA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded November, 2013 with a mission to promote healthy lifestyles among college students by providing and expanding opportunities in the sport of running. The vision of the CRA is to offer national championship events in road, mountain, and trail running with prize money specifically reserved for college students enrolled in at least one class. Membership is open to the public (click here).
Contact: Collegiate Running Association