WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary women's cross country kicks off its championship season on Friday morning, hosting the CAA Championship. The event is set for Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va.
The Championship Field
The Tribe will host the 2023 CAA Championships at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. The women's 6K is set for 10 a.m. with the men's 8K to follow at 11 a.m. It marks the first time in league history the cross country championship will take place at Pole Green Park. The course, which will serve as host to the USATF Cross Country National Championships in January, consists of a 2K loop and is extremely spectator friendly. With Campbell joining the CAA this fall, the league sits at 13 teams competing for the women's cross country championship. Along with the Tribe and Camels, the league lineup consists of Charleston, Delaware, Elon, Hampton, Hofstra, Monmouth, NC A&T, UNCW, Northeastern, Stony Brook, and Towson. The field also includes four regionally-ranked teams in Elon (No. 7 Southeast Region), Monmouth (No. 12 Mid-Atlantic Region), Northeastern (No. 3 Northeast Region), and Stony Brook (No. 12 Northeast Region). The top 15 runners at the championship will earn All-CAA honors to 14.
Tribe News and Notes
- The Tribe has 23 CAA Championships overall, the third-most in any sport in conference history. W&M is looking for its first league crown since 2018.
- Last season,
Arianna DeBoer and
Sofia Istnick both earned All-CAA honors. The duo finished eighth and ninth, respectively, a season ago.
- The Tribe will run at the Pole Green Park course for the second time this season. The Green and Gold placed second to open the season at the Richmond Spider Alumni Open in a 5K race.
- The Tribe has been ranked in the USTFCCA Southeast Region during four of the five weeks this season. W&M was ranked as high No. 11 during the opening week of the year.
- Most recently, the Tribe finished 10th in the 15-team Orange race at the Virginia XC23 Pre-Nationals. W&M defeated a trio of regionally ranked teams – Charlotte (11th, Southeast Region), UMass Lowell (15th, Northeast Region) and Elon (7th, Southeast Region). DeBoer led the Tribe with an eighth-place finish followed by sophomore
Catherine Garrison in 23rd.
- At the Paul Short Run, the Tribe outdistanced 11 regionally-ranked foes in placing 13th in the 44-team field. Istnick (33rd), Garrison (40th), and DeBoer (43rd) paced the Tribe by finishing among the top 50 in the 339-runner field.
- In its opening two events of the 2023 season, W&M earned runner-up finishes. The Tribe edged No. 11 Georgetown for second at the season-opening Spider Alumni Open behind only No. 11 Virginia. Recently, W&M was second in CAA rival Elon at the Adidas XC Challenge on Sept. 15 in Cary, N.C.
- Istnick was named the CAA Runner of the Week on Sept. 5 after leading the Tribe at the Spider Alumni Open. She placed fourth in the 180-runner field, covering the 4K course in 13:43.2. The Massillon, Ohio native was the CAA Rookie of the Year last season and led W&M with a 44th-place showing at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships.
