The William and Mary women's cross country team swept the year-end conference awards in the Colonial Athletic Association, the league announced on Wednesday.  It is just the fourth time in 20 years that one school has won Coach of the Year, Athlete of the Year, and Rookie of the Year.  Previous sweeps were recorded by W&M in 2003, James Madison in 2002, and Georgia State in 2007.  Along with the Tribe men's team sweeping its three awards as well, it is just the second time (W&M, 2003) that one team has won all six cross country honors.

Tribe junior Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) was named the Runner of the Year, after winning the CAA title and earning her second All-American award with a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.  Balouris, whose CAA Championship time of 20:43.1 was a course record at Eastern State by 14 seconds, was also the individual champion at the W&M Invitational.  She was the Tribe's top runner at the Southeast Regional, tying the program record with her third all-region honor after placing seventh overall, and also led the team at the Paul Short Invitational.  Balouris is the sixth runner in school history to be named the CAA Runner of the Year.

Freshman Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) was voted the Rookie of the Year, the third straight season and 10th time overall that W&M has boasted the league's best newcomer.  Stites proved she was special early in the year, winning her first collegiate race in an unattached performance, and was a narrow second to Balouris at the W&M Invitational (also unattached) and at Paul Short.  After leading the team at Pre-Nationals, Stites finished third at the CAA Championships and 10th at the Southeast Regional.  At the NCAA Championships, she became the first freshman in school history to be named All-American, finishing 26th in the nation, and was the fourth freshman overall in the race.

First-year head coach Jill Miller was voted the Coach of the Year by her peers, after leading the Tribe back to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2005.  Miller's team was ranked as high as 17th in the nation this season, its best ranking in a decade, and went 137-27 (.835) in eight meets, winning four.  The most important of those four victories was the CAA Championship, W&M's 18th overall and first since 2009.  Miller also directed the tribe to a program-record second-place showing at the Southeast Regional, and finished 21st overall at the NCAA Championships.

2012 Tribe Women's Cross Country Tout Sheet
21st NCAA Championships
2nd Southeast Regional
CAA Champions
Tribe Open Champions
W&M Invitational Champions
Spider Alumni Open Champions
Ranked as high as 17th in the Nation
All-American - Elaina Balouris, Emily Stites
All-Region - Elaina Balouris, Emily Stites
CAA Runner of the Year - Elaina Balouris
CAA Rookie of the Year - Emily Stites
CAA Coach of the Year - Jill Miller
All-CAA - Elaina Balouris, Emily Stites, Jess Cygan, Lanie Smith, Clarissa Schick, Michelle Britto, Dylan Hassett