The William and Mary women's track and field team opened the 2012 campaign Sunday at the CNU Holiday Open, and came away with two ECAC qualifications in the 3,000m run.  The Tribe also had three athletes post their names in the all-time top-16 in their respective events.

3,000m Run
Both ECAC marks came in the 3,000m, where sophomore Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) led teammates in each of the first seven positions.  Balouris ran 9:44.47 to earn her third collegiate win, and was joined below the qualifying standard by freshman Jess Cygan (Bethlehem, Pa.), who ran 9:54.24 in her first collegiate race.  Third place went to freshman Dylan Hassett (Alpharetta, Ga.), and senior Heather Beichner (Cary, N.C.) was fourth in 10:14.54.  Sophomore Lauren Strapp (Raleigh, N.C.) rounded out the top five in 10:15.03, improving her personal-best in the event by more than 12 seconds.

Triple Jump
In the triple jump, sophomore Grace Elizabeth Oxley (Silver Spring, Md.) had the first of her two all-time top-16 showings of the day.  Oxley was second overall at 11.26 meters (36-11.5), an overall collegiate-best by more than 14 inches.  Indoors only, the leap improved her previous best by 15.5 inches, and improved her to fifth all-time at W&M.

60m Dash
Two all-time top-16 showings came in the 60m dash, where freshman Sydnee Pierce (Lumberton, N.J.) began her collegiate career with a time of 8.06 seconds in the prelims.  That performance ranks Pierce fifth all-time at the College.  Grace Elizabeth Oxley also ran in the prelims, timing 8.18 seconds to improve her previous best by .1 seconds.  Oxley improved from 16th to 13th on W&M's all-time performers list.

Pole Vault
Sophomore Nicole Dory (Fort Worth, Texas) also earned a silver medal on Sunday, hers coming in the pole vault with a vault of 3.35m (10-11.75).  Freshman Nina Ullom (Chantilly, Va.) cleared the bar at a height of 3.05m (10 feet), placing her fifth in the meet and 13th all-time at the College.

Mile Run
The day's fourth silver came in the mile, where senior Brittany Sevachko (Centreville, Va.) ran a career-best 5:11.40 for second place.  The run improved her previous best by more than three seconds.  Sophomore Christina Lee (Sterling, Va.) was fourth in 5:15.40, an indoor-best by more than nine seconds for her.

William and Mary will spend the next month training around final exams and the winter holidays, before returning to the track on Jan. 13-14 at the Virginia Tech Invitational.