ALAMOSA – It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that Adams State University reports the death of former student-athlete Melissa (Bouren) Crawford.

Melissa, 40, and her husband Jimmie, 45, were killed in a car crash on the evening of May 12th as their SUV was hit head-on by another vehicle. The couple’s two children Grant, 4, and Chace, 2, also died as a result of the crash. The family was driving from their home in Aztec, New Mexico, to watch Melissa’s two older sons play in a soccer tournament in Albuquerque.

“I really want to express from our whole Adams State family that Melissa is going to be missed. We’re all mourning just like everyone else. At the same time I want you to know that Melissa will never, ever be forgotten. There is going to be a part of Melissa in every teammate, every coach, and every person that she touched here. She will be in our hearts and our minds and she will be the standard of which we’ll have many stories to team members in the future that there are role models here that they should be proud of and emulate. Melissa is definitely the standard-bearer for that. We all love Melissa and she will stay with us forever,” said Damon Martin, director of Cross Country and Track & Field.

As a student-athlete at Adams State, Melissa was a multi-time All-American and named NCAA Woman of the Year in 2000 for the state of Colorado. She was a member of two NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship teams in 1998 and 1999. The 1999 team scored an NCAA DII record 23 points as Melissa placed ninth overall en route to earning All-American honors. The 1999 championship gave the Adams State women’s program its ninth consecutive national title. The feat resulted in each team’s enshrinement in the RMAC Hall of Fame in 2015.

She made her way to Alamosa after a successful prep career at Bloomfield High School (N.M.) where she won a state championship in the 800m run. After her collegiate career she remained with Adams State as a Graduate Assistant and later qualified for the 3000m steeplechase final at the 2001 USA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

She earned degrees in education and exercise physiology at Adams State while concluding her undergraduate studies with a 3.6 GPA and her graduate studies with a 3.9 GPA.

A GoFundMe page has been established to raise money for family funeral costs.