The William and Mary women's track and field team wrapped up the regular season Sunday at a pair of last chance meets, and very successfully at that. The Tribe earned a pair of NCAA qualifiers with some of the top times in the country, and two more ECAC qualifiers.
Boston University ResultsGeorge Mason ResultsIn Boston at the BU Last Chance meet, All-Americans
Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) and
Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) were chasing NCAA qualifying spots in the 5,000m. Entering the race, the 16th and final qualifying slot was at 16:01, two seconds faster than the Tribe school record. That proved no obstacle at all to the Green and Gold pair, who ran 15:43.69 and 15:46.92 to finish the season ranked fifth and eighth in the nation, respectively. Stites' 15:43 was a lifetime-best by more than a second-and-a-half over the 15:45.31 she ran outdoors last April, while Balouris improved a massive 16.5 seconds over the 16:03.43 she ran at the Colonial Relays. They are the first women ever under 16 minutes indoors at W&M, and will head to Albuquerque in two weeks for the NCAA Championships, the first Tribe representatives at the indoor national championships since 2009.
In Fairfax, W&M came away with a pair of re-qualifiers at the Mason Last Chance meet. In the shot put, sophomore
Rochelle Evans (Christiansburg, Va.) took third with a put of 13.75m (45-1.5) in her first competition in a month. It was the 14th-best single performance in school history, and Evans' fourth effort over 45 feet this season alone. In the pole vault, junior
Elizabeth Crafford (Darien, Conn.) was fifth overall at a height of 3.62m (11-10.5), her fifth vault over the ECAC qualifying height of 3.60m this season.
Next week, March 8-9, the Tribe will compete at the ECAC Championships in Boston. Eleven Green and Gold athletes as well as the DMR have qualified for the All-Eastern Championships, which will be held at Boston University. The NCAA Indoor Championships will come the following weekend, March 15-16, in Albuquerque, N.M.
