CPP's Justin Ellerbee and SSU's Kelsey Hull Tabbed CCAA Athletes of the Year
SAN BERNARDINO — Cal Poly Pomona pole vaulter Justin Ellerbee and Sonoma State women’s volleyball player Kelsey Hull have been selected the 2014-15 California Collegiate Athletic Association Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively. It was announced at the CCAA’s annual Hall of Fame dinner in San Bernardino on Tuesday night.
The award was voted on by the 12-member institutions’ Sports Information Directors and determined earlier this week.
Ellerbee has become the CCAA’s first male student-athlete to receive the CCAA Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in the same year. One female student-athlete accomplished the feat when Cal Poly Pomona tennis standout Onnaca Heron swept the accolades in 1990-91.
On May 23 in Michigan, Ellerbee became the CCAA’s lone national champion, team or individual, in his third appearance at the NCAA D-II National Track and Field Championships. Ellerbee became the first vaulter in Bronco history to win the national title with a program-record mark of 17 feet, 6.5 inches.
Just prior to national meet Ellerbee earned First Team All-CCAA honors after snagging his third-straight Conference championship in the vault.
Academically, Ellerbee is an aerospace engineering major and has earned a number of academic awards including an Academic All-District accolade in 2015 and is has been nominated to repeat as an Academic All-America selection.
A three-time America Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American and the 2014 CCAA Volleyball Most Valuable Player, Hull led the Seawolves to their first-ever CCAA and NCAA West Region titles last fall.
A native of Valley Springs, she becomes the first student-athlete at Sonoma State to be named the CCAA's Female Athlete of the Year and was also tabbed SSU’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Despite missing the first six games of the 2014 season due to injury, Hull finished the year with the fourth-most kills per set (3.67) and points per set (4.38) in the conference while leading the CCAA in service aces with 40 (an average of 0.46 per set). Defensively, she recorded the third-most digs on the team with 289 (an average of 3.32 per set), to go along with 37 total blocks (0.43 blocks/set) and a .943 serve reception percentage.
Hull was a First Team All-CCAA selection all four years of her career and earned AVCA All-America honors on three occasions.