(photo by Tim O'Dowd)

Neither mud nor chill nor blasting wind could stop the William and Mary women's cross country Saturday at the NCAA Championships, as the Tribe upset six higher-ranked teams and finished 12th in the nation with 326 points.  No. 1 ranked Providence won the national title with 141 points over No. 2 ranked Arizona (197), while the 18th-ranked Tribe's improvement of six places over seed was the fourth-best on the day.  As expected, Dartmouth senior Abbey D'Agostino won the individual crown in 20:00.3 after finished third ans econd the past two years.

Complete Results

W&M was led by senior Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) who made her last cross country race the best one with an 11th-place finish in 20:22.7.  It is Balouris' fourth All-American performance, placing her second in school history alongside Jeri Daniels '82, and behind only Janice Brown '93 and Marcie Homan '95, who were honored five times each.  Sophomore Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) was caught in the pack and finished 46th overall in 20:50.3, just shy of the All-America cutoff (top 40 finishers), but her performance is still the second-best finish ever for a Tribe No. 2 behind only her showing in 2012 (26th last season).  Third for the Tribe was sophomore Meghan McGovern (North Wales, Pa.), running 21:24.7 for 113th place, and senior Michelle Britto (Woodbridge, Va.) was 123rd overall after crossing the line in 21:28.1  Junior Carolyn Hennessey (Herndon, Va.) was the team's fifth and final scorer, taking 141st in 21:35.5, while junior Dylan Hassett (Alpharetta, Ga.) and sophomore Erica Amatori (Cary, N.C.) rounded out the squad in 167th and 225th, respectively, with times of 21:47.0 and 22:22.2.

W&M's 12th-place team finish is the second-best ever in program history, behind only the 10th-place showing by the 1998 team.  However, W&M's 326 points today is 48 better than that squad; as the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh runners all recorded the best finish since the field expanded to its current size in 1998.  On average, each finisher improved 22.1 points over last year's showing.

With the cross country season complete, William and Mary turns its attention to the indoor track.  The Tribe's first meet of the year will come on Saturday, Dec. 7, with the CNU Holiday Open in Newport News.

33rd NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships - 6K
Terre Haute, Ind. - Wabash Valley Family Sports Center

Top 20 Teams
1. #1 Providence 141
2. #2 Arizona 197
3. #13 Butler 200
4. #8 Michigan 215
5. #6 Georgetown 226
6. #14 Michigan State 236
7. #5 Colorado 265
8. #4 Florida State 278
9. #10 Virginia 283
10. #11 New Mexico 301
11. #12 Stanford 322
12. #18 William and Mary 326
13. #7 Iowa State 333
14. #17 Oregon 340
15. #3 Arkansas 340
16. #15 Dartmouth 369
17. #20 Washington 376
18. #19 San Francisco 385
19. #9 Villanova 397
20. #16 Minnesota 306

Top 11 Individuals
1. Abbey D'Agostino (DART) 20:00.3
2. Emma Bates (BOIST) 20:03.9
3. Kate Avery (IONA) 20:05.4
4. Aisling Cuffe (STAN) 20:09.3
5. Emily Lipari (VILL) 20:10.8
6. Colleen Quigley (FSU) 20:11.3
7. Emily Sisson (PROV) 20:17.5
8. Shelby Houlihan (ASU) 20:20.9
9. Shalaya Kipp (COLO) 20:21.7
10. Kelsey Santisteban (CAL) 20:21.7
11. Elaina Balouris (W&M) 20:22.7

Other W&M Individuals
46. Emily Stites 20:50.3
113. Meghan McGovern 21:24.7
123. Michelle Britto 21:28.1
141. Carolyn Hennessey 21:35.5
167. Dylan Hassett 21:47.0
225. Erica Amatori 22:22.2