NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale University Athletics is proud to recognize and celebrate Kayley DeLay of the cross country and track & field teams as the recipient of the 2021-22 Nellie Pratt Elliot Award, the most prestigious athletic award given to a senior female at Yale. 
 
The Nellie Pratt Elliot Award goes to the senior women's sport student-athlete whose excellence in the field of athletics and in her life at Yale best represents the ideals of sportsmanship and Yale tradition. It is awarded in memory of Nellie Pratt Elliot, who was an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Yale for 46 years.
 
The award was conferred on Sunday, May 22, as part of Class Day, a Yale College celebration and tradition that dates to the 19^th century.
 
DeLay, elected team captain by her teammates this season, made an impact right from the start of her Yale career. She earned second team All-Ivy League honors in cross country as a first year in 2017 and as a sophomore in 2018. She went on to win the Ivy League cross country championship as a junior in 2019 and as a senior in 2021, earning first team All-Ivy honors in the process. 
 
"Kayley Delay represents the finest of Yale and is everything that a Yale student-athlete should be. She came to New Haven with good (but not great) distance running credentials, and through hard work and determination, has molded herself into one of the top distance runners in the Nation," said David Shoehalter, Mark T. Young '68 Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. "American sport is filled with stories of hard work and determination and Kayley has embraced all that it takes to succeed both on and away from the field of play. Because of her quiet leadership, Kayley was twice elected Captain of the Yale Women's Cross Country team. Her best event is the 3000m steeplechase, and we are extremely excited about her prospects in that event during nationals."
 
A native of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., DeLay's final Yale cross country season culminated with a return to her home state for the NCAA Championships this past fall. There, she earned All-America recognition for her 10th place finish. She was also named All-Region and Northeast Region Athlete of the Year. 
 
Just two weeks after that All-America performance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, DeLay turned her attention to track & field season and broke the school record in the 5000m run at BU's Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. She went on to earn All-America honors in that event at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. 
 
DeLay also broke the school record in the 3000m run indoors this season – twice, including her win at the Ivy League Heps Championships, where she set the meet record with a time of 9:09.19. That was her second straight Ivy League championship in that event indoors, earning first team All-Ivy recognition each time.
 
DeLay is in the midst of a similarly successful outdoor track and field season, as she qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Round in three different events – the 1500m run, the 5000m run and the 3000m steeplechase. She has broken the school record in all three of those events, winning Ivy League championships and earning first team All-Ivy recognition in the 5K and the steeplechase earlier this month en route to earning the Most Outstanding Track Performer Award at Heps. Her steeplechase time was a meet record. 
 
Earlier this month DeLay was honored with Yale's Outstanding Distance Runner award for the track & field team and, for the second year in a row, Yale's Stanley-Cleary Award as the most valuable member of the cross country team. She shared the track & field team's James Stack '61 Award as most valuable athlete.
 
DeLay has also been a presence on the national track & field scene. Last year she competed in the US Olympic Team Trials in the 3000m steeplechase.
 
A member of Morse College majoring in environmental engineering, DeLay has worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the Yale School of Public Health. She is also a teaching assistant for a course on air pollution and public health and a student coach with Online Experiences for Yale Scholars, an online summer math program for incoming first-year students.

"In her time at Yale, Kayley has done Yale proud. She is everything you'd expect from a Yale woman," said Shoehalter. "Her plans are to continue to pursue her athletic dreams in the future. We all look forward to watching her on the national and international stage being referred to as a "former Yale athlete".

DeLay is the third Yale cross country/track & field student-athlete to win the Elliot Award in the last six years, and the 12th since the award's inception in 1977.

 
Elliot Award Winners
1976-77: Anne F. Keating, Basketball/Field Hockey/Lacrosse
1977-78: Barbara A. Liebowitz, Basketball
1978-79: Mary C. Pew, Rowing
1979-80: Susanna E. Krentz, Volleyball/Basketball
1980-81: Tracy Ball, Lacrosse
1981-82: Patricia A. Melton, Track & Field
1982-83: Sindee L. Simon, Swimming & Diving
1983-84: Nicole W. Piasecki, Lacrosse/Field Hockey
1984-85: Andrea P. Metkus, Fencing
1985-86:  Melissa Jane Buchan, Track & Field
1986-87: Louisa Gerritz, Track & Field
1987-88: Kelly Groteke, Cross Country          
1988-89: Sarah P. Smith, Cross Country/Track & Field
1989-90: Tonya Lawrence, Basketball
1990-91: Kristine A. Campbell, Fencing
1991-92: Berkeley Belknap, Squash
1992-93: Anne Lehman, Field Hockey
1993-94: Tasha Taylor, Gymnastics
1994-95: Mary Kalich, Basketball
1995-96: Kellianne Bartlett, Field Hockey/Softball
1996-97: Amanda Taft, Softball
1997-98: Laurie Belliveau, Ice Hockey
1998-99: Rosanna "Rosie" Wustrack, Volleyball
1999-00: Heather R. Bentley, Lacrosse
2000-01: Meredith Bryarly, Swimming & Diving
2001-02: Sarah Seung-Hee Seo, Golf
2002-03: Kate O'Neill, Track & Field/Cross Country
                Laura O'Neill, Track & Field/Cross Country
2003-04: Elizabeth "Miles" Whitman Lacrosse
2004-05: Sarah Driscoll Lacrosse/Field Hockey
2005-06: Michelle Quibell, Squash
               Joslyn Woodard Track
2006-07: Rachel Jeffers, Rowing
2007-08: LaurenTaylor, Lacrosse
2008-09: Christina Person, Rowing
2009-10: Susan Kim, Swimming & Diving
2010-11: Kate Grace, Track & Field
2011-12: Taylor Cramm, Volleyball
2012-13: Elizabeth Epstein, Tennis
2013-14: Kendall Polan, Volleyball
2014-15: Mollie Rogers, Volleyball
2015-16: Eva Fabian, Swimming & Diving
2016-17: Katherine Miller, Fencing
               Frances Schmiede Cross Country/Track & Field
2017-18: Jen Berkowitz, Basketball
2018-19: Andrea Masterson, Cross Country/Track & Field
2019-20: Frances Arnautou, Volleyball
               Aerial Chavarin, Soccer/Basketball
2020-21: Camille Pham, Fencing