As expected by all, the William and Mary women's track and field team advanced two athletes to the nationals finals of the NCAA Championships Thursday night, but the speed at which it happened surely surprised all but a select few.  The Tribe was competing at the Eastern Semifinals in Jacksonville, Fla., and had a total of four athletes competing in two events for one of the 12 coveted finals bids.

Complete Results

In the headline event of the night, the 10,000m, senior All-American Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) and sophomore All-American Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) took control from the gun and led the way to a pair of automatic bids to Hayward Field.  Working in tandem to share the work of leading, the duo finished second and third overall in the race, nearly a minute ahead of the final qualifying time.  Balouris was in front, running a lifetime-best 33:13.54, and finished just .08 seconds behind the night's winner from Michigan.  The effort, which came on the heels of lifetime-bests in the 1,500m at the CAA Championships and a school-record in the 3,000m at ECACs, was more than 18 seconds faster than Balouris had ever run before.  It was also the second-fastest race in school history; and in the short five-year history of the Eastern and Western Semifinals, the second-fastest 10,000m qualifier ever run (behind, again, tonight's winner).  Balouris is just the second W&M woman to qualify for the NCAA outdoor finals in three straight years, alongside pole vault-great Nicole Kazuba '10.

Right alongside her for the whole race was Stites, who came into the race seeded third and finished in that spot also.  Stites stopped the clock in 33:15.25, the third-fastest time in school history and the third-fastest qualifier in NCAA history.  She also made her own bit of history, matching Jeri Daniels '82 and Emily Anderson '10 as the only women to qualify for the national finals in consecutive years in different events (Daniels in the shot put and discus in 1981 and 1982; Anderson in the 1,500m and 5,000m in 2008 and 2009).  Also running the 10,000m was junior Dylan Hassett (Alpharetta, Ga.), who improved 12 spots over her pre-meet seeding to take 36th overall.  The CAA and ECAC Champion in the event, Hassett crossed the finish line in 36:16.14.

Earlier in the evening, Tribe sophomore Katie Johnston (Haddonfield, N.J.) wrapped up her year in the semifinals of the javelin throw.  After fouling her first attempt, she came back with a 42.92m (140-10) effort in the second round and 45.19m (148-3) in the third.  That was the fifth-longest throw in school history, and the second-best of Johnston's young career.  The two-sport standout (she's also a starting forward for Tribe soccer) and CAA Champion was third overall in her flight, and finished 26th overall, nine places better than she was predicted coming into the weekend.

The NCAA Eastern Semifinals continue all-day Friday and Saturday with W&M's next appearance coming on Saturday evening, the 5,000m at 8:45 p.m.