All-American Squared

Coach Knickel sent us an update on Emily Stites ('12) and her amazing freshman year at William and Mary.  The following Jacob Skipper article is from the William and Mary Athletics website HERE

The William and Mary women's track and field team will be sending two to the NCAA Finals in two weeks at Oregon, after an action-packed night of 5,000m races at the Eastern preliminaries in Greensboro, N.C. on Saturday night. Earlier this week, junior All-American Elaina Balouris (Allison Park, Pa.) punched her ticket for the second-consecutive year in the 10,000m.

Complete Results

In Saturday's races, freshman Emily Stites (Wyoming, Ohio) continued to impress as she caught and passed a rival on the home stretch to earn the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot in her heat of the 5,000m. Stites ran 16:12.82 to survive and advance, the seventh-fastest time ever at W&M. Her appearance at the NCAA Finals next week will make her the first true-freshman in W&M track and field history (men or women) to earn a pair of All-America honors. Already this year, Stites won the USAT&F Junior Cross Country Championship, as well as the CAA 10,000m title, and she ran for Team USA at the World Cross Country Championships and the BUPA Great Edinburgh Challenge. She is one of just seven freshmen women in the entire NCAA to advance in any race 800m-10,000m, and will be seeded ninth in the championship finals.

Also racing the 5,000m was freshman Meghan McGovern (North Wales, Pa.), who ran 17:00.68 to take 37th overall and improve her pre-meet seed by 10 places. McGovern, also a Team USA alum after representing her country at the NACAC Junior Cross Country Championships in February, is not done for the year despite Saturday's result as she is also qualified for the 5,000m at the USAT&F Junior Championships next month. Already this year, she won the CAA 5,000m title in a meet-record time of 16:34.01.

The NCAA Finals will be hosted by the University of Oregon at the world-renowned Hayward Field, June 5-8. The 10,000m finals will take place at 10:10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, June 5, with the 5,000m finals coming two days later at 9:15 p.m. Eastern.