William and Mary senior Brandon Heroux (Westfield, N.J.) brought his collegiate career to a successful end Thursday afternoon at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, throwing the javelin a school-record 73.55 meters (241-4) to finish eighth in the country.  While official notification won't come until Monday, Heroux's performance earned him first-team All-American honors from the USTFCCCA.

Heroux's performance Thursday capped a successful four year career for the Canadian Olympic hopeful, as he became the first men's thrower from W&M ever to be named All-American.  Even more impressive, his scoring effort at the national championships comes one year to the day after he underwent Tommy John surgery in his throwing elbow.  Heroux's throw broke his own school record of 73.09m (239-9), set when he won the 2011 Penn Relays.  According to Track and Field News, it was also the best-ever throw for an eighth-place finisher at the NCAA Championships.

Even coming back from injury, Heroux's senior campaign was the finest of his career, with all four competitive appearances ranking among W&M's all-time top-six.  In addition to his school record showing on Thursday, he also threw 71.85m (235-9) to take second at the Penn Relays, a conference-record 71.34m (234-1) to win his fourth consecutive Colonial Athletic Association championship, and 71.86m (235-9) to place third in the NCAA semifinals.  In total, Heroux is responsible for 18 of the top 20 javelin performances in school history, including each of the top 11.

In addition to being the first men's thrower ever named All-American, Heroux is the first field athlete All-American outdoors for W&M since Monk Little '35 took third in the broad jump in 1934 and again in 1935.  Indoors and outdoors, he is just the third field All-American for the W&M men's program alongside Little and high jumper Al Irving '77, fourth at the 1975 NCAA indoor championships.  Overall, 31 Tribe men's track and field (and cross country) athletes have been named All-American a total of 72 times.

With the collegiate season now complete, Heroux will continue competing with an aim at representing Canada in the London Olympics.  Already qualified for the Canadian Olympic Trials and ranked fifth overall in that country, Heroux needs to throw over 82m () once, or over 77m () twice to be eligible for selection to Team Canada.

2012 NCAA Men's Javelin Championship Results
1. Tim Glover (Ill. St.) 81.69m (268-0)
2. Sam Humphreys (Texas A&M) 79.62m (261-2)
3. Matthias Treff (VT) 75.83m (248-9)
4. Ignacio Guerra (WKU) 74.84m (245-6)
5. Ben Chretien (McNeese St.) 74.78m (245-4)
6. Raymond Dykstra (Kentucky) 74.04m (242-11)
7. Stipe Zunic (Florida) 73.99m (242-9)
8. Brandon Heroux (W&M) 73.55m (241-4)

Brandon Heroux's All-Time Honors
2012 USTFCCCA First-Team All-America
2012 NCAA Championships Finalist
2012 Olympic Trials Qualifier
2012 CAA Champion (meet record)
2011 IC4A Champion
2011 CAA Champion (meet record)
2011 Penn Relays Champion
2011 Colonial Relays Champion
2010 CAA Men's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year
2010 NCAA Championships Semifinalist
2010 IC4A Silver Medalist
2010 CAA Champion
2010 Colonial Relays Champion
2009 CAA Men's Track and Field Rookie of the Year
2009 NCAA Championship Semifinalist (final-site qualifier)
2009 NCAA East Region All-Region Team
2009 CAA Champion (meet record)
2009 Colonial Relays Champion
14 Career Victories