(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

William and Mary sophomore Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) punched her first ticket to the NCAA Finals Thursday night, running 34:29.88 for eighth place in the East semifinals.  Balouris was just 11 seconds off the leader, and well within the top 12 spots that were up for grabs in the race.  Her race capped off a busy day at the NCAA Championships eastern preliminaries for the Tribe, who also had senior Brandon Heroux (Westfield, N.J.) advance from the javelin throw Thursday afternoon.

Women's 10,000m Semifinals
Balouris' time of 34:29.88 was the fifth-fastest ever run at W&M, and the second-fastest by an athlete running any round of the NCAA Championships or regionals.  By advancing to the NCAA finals, she has all but assured herself of her first All-American honour - the top eight finishers at Des Moines on June 7th will be named first-team All-America by the USTFCCCA, the next eight will be second-team All-America, and the remaining finishers will be honourable-mention.

Balouris has now run three 10,000m races in the past five weeks, three in her career, and all three are among the 20 fastest ever at the College.  Her debut at the Mt. SAC Relays in mid-April came in 33:56.26, the second-fastest time in school history, and she also won the Colonial Athletic Association championship two weeks ago in 35:57.92.  When she steps to the line in Des Moines in two weeks time, Balouris will be the third Tribe woman to ever run the 10,000m at the NCAA finals, joining Ali Henderson '04 (12th in 2003) and Laurie Sturgell (19th in 1997).

Men's 10,000m Semifinals
In the men's 10,000m, sophomore Josh Hardin (Sterling, Va.) finished 21st in 31:00.45, and Alex McGrath (Marlborough, N.H.) was 25th in 31:06.63.  The pair wrapped up very successful campaigns despite not advancing.  Hardin was the IC4A Champion indoors at 5,000m, and ranks fourth all-time at W&M in the 5,000m indoors and eighth in the 10,000m outdoors.  McGrath was second in that indoor IC4A race, and won the CAA title outdoors at 5,000m.  In the Tribe record books, the redshirt-junior ranks eighth in both the 3,000m and 5,000m indoors, as well as 13th outdoors at both 5,000m and 10,000m.

Men's 1,500m Trials
In the trials of the 1,500m, senior Chris Tyson (Arlington, Va.) ran 4:06.35 for seventh in the first heat, an incredibly tactical race that was only won in 4:05.  Tyson's celebrated career comes to a close with the race, which includes four All-East awards at the IC4A Championships and the 2012 CAA Championship at 1,500m.  He ran the three-fastest 1,500m and mile races of his career in 2012, and also set career-bests at 1,000m and both indoors and outdoors at 800m this season.  Tyson graduated last weekend ranked highly in several Tribe record books, including sixth outdoors at 1,500m, sixth indoors at 1,000m, seventh indoors at 800m, and 12th indoors in the mile.

The NCAA finals will be hosted by Drake University June 6-9.  Heroux will contest the NCAA title in the javelin at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern) on June 7th, while Balouris will compete for the NCAA 10,000m championship at 9:45 p.m. on that same day.