The William and Mary track and teams will send at least 11 athletes to the NCAA Championships next weekend in Greensboro, the national association announced Thursday afternoon.  The accepted lists of 48 athletes in each event in the East and West were published (as was the 24 national decathon and heptathlon competitors), with the eastern half competing at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C. and the western half at the University of Texas.  Both preliminary round meets will take place May 23-25, with the top 12 finishers in each event advancing to the NCAA finals at the University of Oregon June 5-8.

Complete Men's Accepted List
Complete Women's Accepted List

W&M's list of 11 entrants, plus a possible 12th, is the second-most ever in school history behind only 2010's squad of 14.  Athletes who advance and compete at the finals site are guaranteed All-America status, with the top eight finishers named first-team, places 9-16 named second-team, and places 17-24 earning honorable-mention honors.

Women's Events
5,000m Run - National Semifinals May 25 @ 8:05 PM
W&M has two freshmen running the 5,000m, but don't mistake youth for inexperience at this level of competition.  Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) is ranked fifth in the region at 15:45.31, and fellow Team USA rep Meghan McGovern (North Wales, Pa.) ranks 47th at 16:34.10.  Each of the top five women ran their qualifying times in the same race out at Mt. SAC, including Stites who was making her season-opener in the race.  She was also an All-American in cross country and won the USAT&F Junior cross country national title, representing the U.S. in two international meets this winter.  McGovern also ran for Team USA at the NACAC junior cross country championships, and placed eighth at the national meet.  On the track, she won the 5,000m at the CAA Championships earlier this month, breaking the conference meet record in the process.  The top five athletes in each of two heats and the next two fastest times will advance to Oregon, a standard that required 16:26.91 to meet last year.

10,000m Run - National Semifinals May 23 @ 9:00 PM
All-American Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) will be making her third NCAA appearance and second in a row in the 10,000m, where she is seeded 19th at 34:20.40.  Last year, she earned her first All-America certificate with a 19th-place finish in the finals, and added a second in cross country where she finished 13th overall.  This spring, Balouris set lifetime-bests in the 5,000m (where she briefly held the school record) and the 1,500m, finishing second in both events at the CAA Championships to help the Tribe claim its first conference title since 2010.  Balouris was also the individual champion and CAA Athlete of the Year in cross country.  After a solo performance last year, she'll be joined next weekend by sophomore Dylan Hassett (Alpharetta, Ga.), making her NCAA debut ranked 40th at 34:54.89.  Hassett, who was fourth in the 10,000m at the CAA meet, pulled off the impressive feat of earning All-East honors in both the 3,000m and 5,000m at the ECAC indoor championships back in March.  The top-12 finishers in the one-heat semifinal will advance next weekend, and last year's final qualifying time was 34:41.58.

Javelin Throw - National Semifinals May 25 @ 2:00 PM
In addition to the 10 athletes guaranteed of a spot in the NCAA field, freshman Katie Johnston (Haddonfield, N.J.) will be training and making the trip to Greensboro as the first alternate in the women's javelin throw.  She is ranked 49th in the East by a mere three centimeters, after winning the CAA title with a freshman-record effort of 43.83m (143-9) two weeks ago.  It was the first conference championship in the javelin for W&M since 1999.  Johnston, who is also a member of the nationally-ranked Tribe women's soccer team, would be the first women's thrower since 1982 AIAW shot put champion Jeri Daniels '82 to reach the national championships if she gets in.  The top-12 throwers will advance to the finals in June, a feat that took a throw of 45.10m (147-11) last spring.

Men's Events
1,500m Run - First Round May 23 @ 6 PM
Senior John Muller (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) will make his first NCAA appearance in 1,500m, where the his lifetime-best 3:46.22 is ranked 38th.  Muller was the CAA runner-up each of the last two seasons, and has also run a lifetime-best 8:14.67 in the 3,000m this year.  He'll have to finish in the top five in his heat, or as one of the four-fastest non-top five in the field, to make the quarterfinals on Saturday at 6:45 p.m.  The top 12 (five from each quarterfinal, plus next two fastest) will then advance to Oregon.  Last year, it took 3:48.67 to advance in the first round, and 3:46.96 to move on to the national semifinals.

5,000m Run - National Semifinals May 25 @ 8:45 PM
Two for the Tribe will run in the 5,000m semifinals, senior Alex McGrath (Marlborough, N.H.) and junior Rad Gunzenhauser (Pittsburgh, Pa.).  McGrath is seeded 11th with his 13:55.37 from Mt. SAC, and will be making his third-straight NCAA appearance after running the 10,000m each of the last two years.  The Fulbright Scholar was runner-up in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the CAA Championships two weeks ago, and was also the cross country champion, Athlete of the Year, and Scholar-Athlete of the Year last fall.  Gunzenhauser is ranked 47th thanks to his 14:13.56 from Colonial Relays, and is making his NCAA debut.  He won the IC4A indoor title at 5,000m back in March, and in an impressive display of range, finished third in the 10,000m and second in the 3,000m steeplechase at the CAA Championships to help W&M claim the team title.  Last year, 14:05.67 was the final time-qualifier from the two semifinal heats that moved on.

10,000m Run - National Semifinals May 23 @ 9:40 PM
Senior Josh Hardin (Sterling, Va.) will run the 10,000m for the third year in a row, qualifying as the 18th-seed in 29:29.37.  Hardin is coming in on a hot streak, after he swept the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the CAA Championships to begin the month.  He was also the IC4A 5,000m champion indoors in 2012, and finished 21st in this race a year ago.  Qualification out of the 10,000m is one of the simplest in the meet - 48 athletes step to the line, and the first 12 to finish advance.  Last year, that final spot was timed at 30:37.85.

3,000m Steeplechase - National Quarterfinals May 24 @ 9:30 PM
Senior Liam Anastasia-Murphy (Gloucester, Mass.) returns to the NCAA Championships for the third time in the steeplechase, after making previous appearances in 2010 and 2011.  He is seeded 46th after running 9:01.48 at the Penn Relays, and comes into the meet as the CAA champion after claiming his first conference title two weeks ago.  The steeplechase is run in three heats, so that top three finishers from each heat and the next three fastest times all advance.  Last year, 8:47.09 was what it took to advance, but only one athlete of those twelve returns this season, and just five of the top-20 overall.

Pole Vault - National Semifinals May 23 @ 4:30 PM
Freshman Austin Vegas (Kernersville, N.C.) will make his first NCAA appearance in the pole vault, after clearing a Tribe freshman-record 5.01m (16-5.25) last week at Virginia.  It was also the second-best outdoor vault ever for W&M, and third-best when you also include indoor competition.  Vegas, who won the CAA championship on his first try, will be the first Tribe men's vaulter to compete at the NCAA outdoor championships since Dan Henneberg '70 in 1970.  In 2012, the lowest height to advance to the finals was 5.27m (17-3.5).

Javelin Throw - National Semifinals May 24 @ 2:00 PM
Rookie Bob Smutsky (Dillsburg, Pa.) will also represent the Class of 2016 this weekend, continuing the Tribe's presence in the men's javelin throw.  Smutsky was the CAA Champion in the event with a season-best throw of 66.02m (216-7), and has also seen great success this year running the 200m where he is the indoor freshman record-holder (22.02) and has run 21.68 outdoors.  Last year's 12th qualifier in the javelin recorded a mark of 66.64m (218-7), putting Smutsky right in the mix to advance.  He'll be looking to follow in the footsteps of Brandon Heroux '12, who finished eighth at last year's NCAA Championships in the event.