GREENWOOD, Ind. – Cedarville track and field standout Carsyn Koch was officially announced as the 2016 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
 
Voting for the 2016 G-MAC Female Athlete of the Year award was conducted by athletic administrators from each school around the league.
 
Simply put, the 2015-16 academic year was a banner one for sophomore from Washburn, Maine, after she had already impressed plenty of observers as a freshman in 2014-15.
 
Koch completed the indoor and outdoor sweep at the NCAA Division II National Championships in the 800-meter run -- the first national title for any G-MAC student-athlete regardless of sport.
 
At Pittsburg, Kan., Koch ran to the national indoor title before pulling the same feat in Bradenton, Fla., to cap the outdoor campaign.
 
Koch also shattered a longstanding all-time Division II outdoor record (since 1990) in the same event with a time of 2:02.39 at Stanford in the Payton Jordan Invitational.
 
That 800-meter effort resulted in qualification to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She is preparing to run in the prelims in Eugene, Ore., on Friday, July 1., at 7:45 p.m. EDT.
 
Media flocked to the Cedarville campus throughout the year to get a glimpse of the fleet-footed, 5-7 blur as she chases an Olympic dream to get to Rio de Janeiro for the summer games.
 
Koch was profiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) when her 2:02.39 ranked fifth across the entire NCAA in 2015-16. Click here to read.
 
Additionally, she was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week twice during the 2016 outdoor season alone. With the two national titles secured, Koch also became a three-time USTFCCCA All-American.
 
In her career, Koch owns eight of the G-MAC’s top-10 outdoor times in the 800-meter run and has a hold on the top three times in the event for the indoor season.
 
In the fall, Koch doubled up as a member of the Cedarville women’s cross country unit and posted the third-best 6K time around the conference running in select events.
 
Koch helped lead the Cedarville women to indoor and outdoor G-MAC track and field team titles and another women’s cross country trophy. She earned six total G-MAC Track & Field Athlete of the Week honors in 2015-16 and pair of G-MAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week awards in the fall of 2015.