GUILDERLAND — Taylor Tommell, 21, doesn’t think of herself as a natural runner. She wasn’t much good at cross-country running when she first started out, in Farnsworth Middle School. She remembers sometimes being so tired during races, that first year, that she had to walk part of the way. But she went on to win the team’s “Most Improved” award that same year, she said recently.

This past year, as a junior at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill, she won a much bigger award: She was named the college’s Female Athlete of the Year for 2016.

Her accomplishments at Cobleskill this year included: leading the Fighting Tigers in their seventh consecutive North Eastern Athletic Conference championship by becoming the first runner in program history to win the league’s individual championship; being selected to the All-NEAC First Team for the third consecutive year; and becoming the first runner in program history to have earned both NEAC Rookie of the Year and Runner of the Year honors during her career.

To entertain herself during long runs, she sometimes makes lists in her head, of things like her top 10 favorite television shows. It also helps, she said, to go running with a teammate when possible. “If we’re talking, it makes the time go so much faster.”

When she’s back at home in Guilderland during school breaks, Tommell’s favorite places to run are Tawasentha Park where she used to train with the Guilderland High School team, and also on the sidewalks around the perimeter of Hamilton Square, even though friends who happen to be eating in the mall’s restaurants will sometimes see her running outside and ask her to stop and come join them.

The main thing that makes her want to challenge herself, she said, is not something inside her but rather all the support she gets from parents, coaches, friends, and her boyfriend.

“People will tell me, ‘Good luck in your race!’, and that encourages me,” she said. “Then, during a race, the sections where there are no people to cheer you on, you don’t typically do as well. I know it’s not just me; a lot of people feel the same way.”

Asked about her running goals, Tommell said that she would like to try running a marathon or half-marathon. Sometime, she said, she would like to run the Disney marathon at Disney World in Florida.

“I love Disney,” she said “so that combines two of my favorite things.”