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In its new previewing
series, 'Touting the Tribe,' TribeAthletics.com gives fans a glance at William
and Mary student-athletes to keep an eye on during the upcoming 2012-13 season.
The Tribe athlete featured today today is junior All-American Elaina Balouris of the
Green and Gold cross country and track and field teams.
While Tribe fans had already realized Balouris was going to be a special talent after she won Rookie of the Year honors in cross country and qualified for the NCAA Championships outdoors as a freshman, few could have expected the explosive improvement she exhibited in 2011-12. The math major from Allison Park, Pa., was the College's top runner throughout the fall, taking second at the CAA Championships and finishing 10th at the Southeast Regional. When all of the at-large athletes were selected for the national meet, Balouris proved to be the top alternate from across the entire country, a marked improvement over her 23rd-place finish in the region one year before.
On the track, Balouris also stood out as she stepped up in distance from 3,000m to 5,000m indoors, and on to the 10,000m outdoors. In her first-ever 5,000m run at the New York Armory in February, she ran the fifth-fastest time (16:26.24) in the country and qualified provisionally for the NCAA indoor championships. Outdoors, she ran 33:56.26 in her debut at 10,000m at the Mt. SAC Relays, just one second off of the W&M school record and fast enough to guarantee a spot in the NCAA Semifinals. After winning her first CAA title (also at 10,000m) in early May, Balouris finished eighth in those semifinals and earned a spot in the national finals. Running against several Olympians and top-rated Olympic hopefuls, she finished 19th in the nation and earned her first All-America award in the process.
Balouris and the Tribe begin their quest for the conference title and run to the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning, Sept. 15, at the 54th Annual W&M Cross Country Invitational. The women's 5K race begins out at Eastern State at 10:45 a.m.
While Tribe fans had already realized Balouris was going to be a special talent after she won Rookie of the Year honors in cross country and qualified for the NCAA Championships outdoors as a freshman, few could have expected the explosive improvement she exhibited in 2011-12. The math major from Allison Park, Pa., was the College's top runner throughout the fall, taking second at the CAA Championships and finishing 10th at the Southeast Regional. When all of the at-large athletes were selected for the national meet, Balouris proved to be the top alternate from across the entire country, a marked improvement over her 23rd-place finish in the region one year before.
On the track, Balouris also stood out as she stepped up in distance from 3,000m to 5,000m indoors, and on to the 10,000m outdoors. In her first-ever 5,000m run at the New York Armory in February, she ran the fifth-fastest time (16:26.24) in the country and qualified provisionally for the NCAA indoor championships. Outdoors, she ran 33:56.26 in her debut at 10,000m at the Mt. SAC Relays, just one second off of the W&M school record and fast enough to guarantee a spot in the NCAA Semifinals. After winning her first CAA title (also at 10,000m) in early May, Balouris finished eighth in those semifinals and earned a spot in the national finals. Running against several Olympians and top-rated Olympic hopefuls, she finished 19th in the nation and earned her first All-America award in the process.
Balouris and the Tribe begin their quest for the conference title and run to the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning, Sept. 15, at the 54th Annual W&M Cross Country Invitational. The women's 5K race begins out at Eastern State at 10:45 a.m.
