The No. 19-ranked William and Mary women's cross country team takes aim at its most important meet of the year Friday, heading to Charlottesville for the Southeast Region Championships.  The national-qualifying race will go off at 1:15 p.m. at Panorama Farms, with the Tribe looking to make back-to-back trips to the NCAA Championships for the first time ever.

Live Results
Q&A with Elaina Balouris and Emily Stites

What's at Stake
The top two teams in each regional (nine around the nation) will earn an automatic berth to next week's NCAA Championships.  After those 18 teams are set, 13 more will be selected on criteria, and then the top four individuals not on a qualifying team will also earn an automatic spot on the starting line.  Finally, two more individuals will be selected at-large on a national basis, to give a total of 255 athletes at the NCAA meet.

Scouting the Tribe
W&M will be sending eight athletes to the meet, with seven able to run when the starter's gun goes up.   Leading the way will be the All-American duo of Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) and Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio), who are expected to both contend for the individual title in Friday's race.  Considered by many in the media as one of the best teammate pairings in the country, Balouris and Stites finished first and second, respectively, at the CAA Championships two weeks ago.  For Balouris, it was her third win of the season, and second year in a row she's been the CAA champion.  She won the season-opening Spider Alumni Open, for which she was named the National Runner of the Week, and also won at the Panorama Farms Invitational on the same course that the regional meet will be held on.  Stites was second at Richmond and third at the Panorama Farms Invitational, and led the Tribe with an eighth-place showing at the Pre-National Invitational.  If both earn top-25 finishes, they'll be the second pair of Tribe teammates to earn all-region honors in consecutive years, and for Balouris, it would tie her with Kathy Newberry '00 as the only two W&M women to earn four all-region awards.

Also expected to run are the Green and Gold's all-conference runners.  Senior Michelle Britto (Woodbridge, Va.) was third at the conference meet, and fourth on the team/37th overall at last year's region championships.  Sophomore Meghan McGovern (North Wales, Pa.), like Stites a Team USA veteran, was fourth at the CAA Championships two weeks ago and 39th, fifth on the team, one year ago to help the Tribe finish second in the region in 2012.  Junior Dylan Hassett (Alpharetta, Ga.) ran fifth at the CAA meet to complete the Tribe sweep, and will be making her regional debut Friday.  Classmate Carolyn Hennessey (Herndon, Va.) was sixth on the team and seventh overall at the conference meet, and sophomore Erica Amatori (Cary, N.C.) was 10th in the league and seventh for W&M two weeks ago.  Also in the mix for the Tribe is senior Clarissa Schick (Richmond, Va.), who ran at both Panorama Farms and Pre-Nationals, and was third on the team at the region meet in 2012.

Scouting the Opponents
Every team in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia are included in the Southeast Region.  Alongside the Tribe, the favorite in the race is No. 11 Virginia, while No. 28 Duke and Kentucky (receiving votes) are also expected to be in the mix.  Individually, besides Balouris and Stites, big names to watch include Duke's Juliet Bottorff, Kentucky's Cally Macumber, Virginia's Barbara Strehler, and Ann Eason out of Eastern Kentucky.

Massey Cancer Center 5K a Great Success
Last weekend, the Tribe took advantage of the off week to host its annual Massey Cancer Center 5K at Zable Stadium.  While it is always a great success, this year was especially noteworthy as W&M helped raise more than $22,000.  Over the years, more than $125,000 has been raised for the Massey Cancer Center at MCV, to help with research and treatment.

Tribe Makes CAA History
William and Mary won the CAA title two weeks ago with a conference-record score of just 15 points, the first 1-5 sweep in CAA history for either men or women.  Overall, it was W&M's 19th conference title, which is tied with Portland for the fourth-most ever in NCAA history.  It is also the third-most titles won by any CAA team in any sport, behind the Tribe's women's tennis (22) and men's cross country teams (21).

Regional/District Cross Country Championships

Year	Region	Team Finish (Points)	All-Region
1977	AIAW Region II	10th
1978	AIAW Region II	9th (227)
1979	AIAW Region II	No Team Score
1980	AIAW Region II	T-4th (90)
1981	AIAW Region II	5th (110)
1984	District II	No Team Score
1985	District II	No Team Score
1987	District II	15th (382)
1988	District II	13th
1989	District II	4th (138)	Cathy Stanmeyer
1990	Region II	4th (129)	Cathy Stanmeyer, Janice Brown, Megan Holden
1991	Region II	6th (209)	Janice Brown
1992	Region II	5th (146)	Janice Brown
1993	Region II	5th (149)	Marcie Homan, Angela Dalke
1994	Region II	4th (142)	Marcie Homan, Barb Fallon
1996	Region II	4th (161)	Laurie Sturgell, Kathy Newberry
1997	Southeast	4th (106)	Aryn Fahey, Kathy Newberry, Tressa Breindel
1998	Southeast	4th (116)	Kathy Newberry, Emily Furia
1999	Southeast	7th (178)	Emily Furia, Kathy Newberry
2000	Southeast	7th	Emily Furia, Emily Halm
2001	Southeast	6th (170)
2002	Southeast	6th (181)	Ali Henderson, Maura McMahon
2003	Southeast	5th (165)	Ali Henderson
2004	Southeast	6th (187)	Julia Cathcart, Jackie Kosakowski
2005	Southeast	5th (180)	Julia Cathcart, Meghan Bishop
2006	Southeast	7th (236)
2007	Southeast	10th (269)	Emily Anderson
2008	Southeast	5th (204)	Meghan Burns
2009	Southeast	4th (145)	Emily Anderson, Meghan Burns
2010	Southeast	9th (280)	Elaina Balouris
2011	Southeast	9th (344)	Elaina Balouris
2012	Southeast	2nd (123)	Elaina Balouris, Emily Stites