Recent William and Mary graduate Elaina Balouris '14 signed a professional contract Wednesday with the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) to run with the B.A.A. high performance team.  Balouris was announced by the B.A.A. along with the signing of three other recent graduates, Juliet Bottorff of Duke, Emily Lipari of Villanova, and Katie Matthews of Boston University.  The four women will train alongside three-time U.S. Olympian Jen Rhines under noted coach Terrence Mahon.  The B.A.A. team will be supported by adidas.

Complete B.A.A. Release

This spring, Balouris won her fourth CAA Athlete of the Year award, becoming just the ninth athlete in conference history to achieve that milestone.  She capped off her collegiate career by finishing a best-ever fifth in the NCAA 10,000m Championships.  That race gave her a third lifetime-best time, 32:46.57, in three races at the distance this year, and it was her 10th lifetime-best performance in 13 races during the 2013-14 season.  Balouris was a six-time All-American for W&M, the most-ever for a women's track and field athlete, and earned All-American honors all three seasons as a senior, also taking 14th indoors at 5,000m and 11th at last fall's cross country championships.  She is just the fifth athlete in W&M history to earn three All-American awards in one school year.

Balouris' accomplishments also include a second-place finish at the NCAA East Semifinals, where she broke the existing meet record for 10,000m at 33:13.54, and her first ECAC Championship in the 3,000m outdoors.  Her time in that race, 9:10.41, broke the Tribe school record by eight seconds, and gave her both the indoor (9:23.03) and outdoor records in the event.  Balouris was also the runner-up at the CAA Championships in both the 1,500m and the 5,000m for the second year in a row.  Also for the second-straight season, Balouris' running helped break the meet-record at 5,000m, and at 1,500m.  Her 1,500m time of 4:24.27 was a lifetime-best by more than five seconds.  She also won the 5,000m at the Colonial Relays, and broke the 16-minute barrier both indoors (15:46.92) and outdoors (15:56.85) for the first time ever.

Balouris graduated from W&M in May with a degree in mathematics, and will attend graduate school at Boston College to earn her M.Ed. in teaching.

Elaina Balouris Career Highlights
2014 CAA Track and Field Athlete of the Year
2014 USTFCCCA Outdoor Track and Field First-Team All-American
2014 ECAC Outdoor Track and Field 3,000m Champion
2014 USTFCCCA Indoor Track and Field Second-Team All-American
2013 Portsmouth Sports Club Female Virginia College Athlete of the Year
2013 CAA Cross Country Athlete of the Year
2013 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-American
USTFCCCA National Cross Country Runner of the Week (Sept 9, 2013)
2013 CAA Track and Field Athlete of the Year
2013 USTFCCCA Outdoor Track and Field Second-Team All-American
2012 CAA Cross Country Athlete of the Year
2012 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-American
2012 USTFCCCA Outdoor Track and Field Honorable-Mention All-American

Current Records (improvement over the year):
1,500m (outdoor) - 4:24.27 (4th all-time, improvement of 4.98 seconds)
Mile (indoor) - 4:51.19 (5th all-time, improvement of 4.74 seconds)
3,000m (outdoor) - 9:10.41 (SCHOOL RECORD, improvement of 25.93 seconds)
3,000m (indoor) - 9:23.03 (SCHOOL RECORD, improvement of 11.46 seconds)
5,000m (outdoor) - 15:56.85 (2nd all-time, improvement of 6.58 seconds)
5,000m (indoor) - 15:46.92 (2nd all-time, improvement of 39.32 seconds)
10,000m (outdoor) - 32:46.57 (2nd all-time, improvement of 56.70 seconds)