William and Mary's Alex McGrath '13 was named the Men's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday by the Colonial Athletic Association, becoming the fifth Tribe trackster to win the award.  McGrath is the fifth W&M athlete to win Scholar-Athlete honors in 2012-13, joining Mallory Schaffer '13 (women's soccer), Jeremy Wells '13 (men's golf), Kyle Gaillard (Huntersville, N.C.) (men's basketball), and Andrew Strait (Henrico, Va.) (men's swimming and diving).  The Tribe's six total awards so far this year matches the program's best-ever (2003-04), and is the fifth year in the 11-year history of the Scholar-Athlete program that W&M has collected five or more awards.

McGrath, who already won the Scholar-Athlete award in men's cross country last fall, is the fourth man to win Scholar-Athlete honors in both sports in the same year.  An international relations and global studies double-major, he will spend next year in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, and is also up for Academic All-America honors later this month.  On the track, McGrath was the runner-up in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the CAA Championships, and qualified for the NCAA Championships outdoors at 5,000m after running 13:55.37 at Mt. SAC in mid-April.  He was All-East indoors at 3,000m, and last fall, was the CAA individual champion and Athlete of the Year in cross country.  McGrath's selection Wednesday marks the ninth time in 11 years that a Tribe men's track and field athlete has been named the conference's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

As an individual sport Scholar-Athlete, McGrath now advances to the ballot for the conference's overall Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  A Tribe athlete has won the award five times, including each of the past two years.

CAA Overall Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award Winners from W&M (sport)
2012 - Brandon Heroux (track and field)
2011 - Nathaniel Baako (soccer)
2007 - Ryan Overdevest (soccer)
2006 - Keith Bechtol (cross country and track and field)
2004 - Adam Hess (basketball)