WICHITA, Kan.  --  Wichita State All-American Kellyn Taylor (Johnson) has been chosen to compete in the 5,000 meters for the United States in the Pan Am Games in late July in Toronto, Canada. | Roster

Track and field events will be held July 20-26, while the women's 5,000 meters is set for the morning of July 21. The 39-sport Pan Am Games run July 10-29. | Schedule

Taylor's running career continues to be impressive as in January her sixth-place time of 2:28.40 in the Houston Marathon was first among American women and the fifth-fastest debut time ever in the full marathon race by an American woman. Previously, Taylor ran a time of 1:12.30 to win the Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon in October.

At WSU, she holds the Shocker record in the outdoor 800 meters (2:06.12, 2009), 1,500 meters (4:16.72, 2009) and is third in the 5,000 meters (16:02.25, 2009). She also holds the WSU indoor mile record of 4:35.35 (2009).  

Taylor ran for WSU from 2007-09, finishing third in the NCAA Championships indoor mile in 2009 and 10th in the 5,000 meters in the outdoor championships. She also ran at Cloud County Community College.

She lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., and trains with Northern Arizona Elite.

The Pan American Games are held every four years and precede the Olympic Games by one year. The Pan American Games consists of all summer Olympic sports, plus select non-Olympic sports, and serves as an Olympic-qualifying event for many of the participating sports. The Pan American Games are the third largest international multi-sport Games in the world, surpassed only by the Olympic Games and the Asian Games in terms of the number of sports and competing athletes.

Since the inaugural Pan American Games in 1951, the number of sports has doubled in size from 18 to 39. Generally, the Pan American Games program is modeled after the upcoming Olympic Games. The host city and the International Sports Federations make suggestions to the Pan American Sports Organization on additional disciplines to add to the program, and then the PASO Executive Committee and member countries vote on these recommendations.

The entire Olympic program will be contested at the Pan Am Games for the first time in 2015. In addition to the Olympic sports, the XVII Pan Am Games will also feature eight Pan Am-only sports that are not part of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games program, including baseball, bowling, karate, racquetball, roller sports, softball, squash and water skiing.

Toronto 2015 will feature the Pan Am Games debut of golf, canoe slalom, women's baseball and women's rugby sevens, while men's softball returns after a 12-year absence.