CHESTER, Pa. (May 4, 2024) – Graduate student Laura Mathews was named Track Athlete of the Year for the second straight year to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's outdoor track and field team to a second-place finish Saturday at the 2024 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships. This year's iteration is being hosted by Widener University at the George A. Hansell Track and Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.

After a pair of silver medal performances through the first two days of the meet, Mathews added a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles, the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash to her impressive resume to total 46 points across the entire meet.

As a team, Stevens compiled 123 points, including 70 Saturday, to finish second out of the 16 competing teams. Widener captured its second straight conference team title with 162 points. Lebanon Valley amassed 95.5 points to slot in third, with King's (78) and Alvernia (68) rounding out the top-five. The Ducks totaled nine medals across the 22 events, including five gold.

After running the fastest preliminary heat in the 100-meter hurdles, Mathews captured her fourth straight conference title in the event, besting the field in 14.05 seconds – her second-fastest time in the MAC outdoor championship meet.

In the 100-meter dash, Mathews won the race in a season-best 11.94 seconds. Interestingly, Mathews' time was the second-fastest of her career, but her school record-setting time of 11.79 seconds, which was set at last year's conference championship, came with a significant tailwind (+3.0). 

Mathews would later achieve a season best in the 200-meter dash, topping the field in 24.52 seconds for her final individual title of the meet.

Joining Mathews in earning recognition from the conference was Widener's Kayla Robinson was named Field Athlete of the Year. Misericordia's Grace Morningstar earned Rookie of the Year to round out the individual honors. Widener swept the coaching honors as Tim Wilson was named Coach of the Year and Chuck Butz was tabbed Assistant Coach of the Year.

The Rundown

• Graduate student Kristen Williams earned a silver medal in the 100-meter hurdles. The Reston, Virginia native finished second with a time of 14.80 seconds. 
• First-year Isabella Shanley collected her first career outdoor medal with a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash. The first-year sprinter completed the race in 57.81 seconds.

Top Performers

• Graduate student Amanda Antico scored her first points of the weekend in the javelin, finishing seventh with a mark of 33.75 meters on her fifth attempt to set a new personal best.  
• The quartet of senior Lauren Ingraham, sophomore Stephanie Ryazanova, senior Allie Canciani and Mathews placed fourth in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 49.36 seconds. 
• Shanley had earned her first individual points at the meet with an eighth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. The Millersville, Maryland native reached the finish in 17.17 seconds. Shanley ran a personal-best 16.32 seconds in the prelims with a 2.2 m/s tailwind.
• Senior Nina Burden set a new personal best in the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line in sixth place with a time of 2:17.98.
• Stevens earned five points in the final event of the meet, finishing fourth in the 4x400-meter relay. The team of Shanley, Canciani, sophomore Isabel Vogel and Burden, finished the race in 4:07.09.

Around the Middle Atlantic Conference

• Widener's Kayla Robinson won the shot put with a mark of 12.64 meters, topping the field by nearly three-quarters-of-a-meter. Teammate Kelly Barr topped the field in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.63 seconds.
• Misericordia's Alexandra Snyder captured the gold medal in the javelin with a mark of 39.33 meters on her fourth attempt.
• Alvernia's Shinella Felix won her second gold medal of the weekend, topping the field in the triple jump with a distance of 11.94 meters.
• The hosting Pride also won the 4x100-meter relay race with a time of 48.07 seconds.
• Eastern's Hailey Shreffler won the Eagles' lone gold medal of the meet with a first-place finish in the 1500, crossing the line in 4:39.66.
• Widener's Donna Holt took gold in the 800-meter run, reaching the finish in 2:14.36.
• Elise Daniel of Widener won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.07.
• Widener's Gabriella Nye had the final individual race victory of the championship meet, topping the field in the 5,000 with a time of 17:44.93.
• Widener captured first place in the final event of the weekend, besting the 4x400-meter relay field in 4:02.54.

Coach's Comments 

• "We're so proud of how our teams competed this year. Both of our groups gave it their all this weekend and we're so happy with the results. I will never be unhappy at a meet where our athletes tally more than 40 lifetime bests and all their hard work and efforts over the last year paid off in a big way. This was the last conference meet for some of our most successful athletes in school history, and while bittersweet, we're happy their final championship could go as well as it did. While the MAC meet is the emotional high of our season, there is plenty more work to do, and I'm excited for the athletes moving on to our regional and national championships."
• "Our women's team competed tremendously well this weekend. Nicole Waletzki in the final meet of her career competed in her first heptathlon and scored an amazing fifth place finish.  Everyone's first multi event usually doesn't go spectacularly, but Nicole handled the pressure amazingly well, and looked like she'd been doing heptathlons for years."
• "Rachel Rouse re-broke our school record in the steeplechase, taking home fourth place with an incredible effort."
• "In one of the most dominant event performances I've ever seen, we had five women's high jumpers secure a jump of at least 1.57, scoring first, second, fifth, sixth, and seventh in the event.  Scoring 28 points in one event is just absurd, and I'm so happy with how well they all competed together."
• "Speaking of a lot of points, Laura Mathews scored 47 points by herself with three wins, two second places and a fourth place finish in the 4x100 meter relay. Laura ran a total of 10 events in her final MAC Championship, and somehow looked stronger and stronger as the weekend went on.  It was a performance for the ages."
• "Kristen Williams scored second in the 100 hurdles, but her most impressive feat of the weekend was in the triple jump. Kristen had to switch which leg she took off in triple jump due to an injury and came within centimeters of scoring in a tough field. That kind of competitiveness is rare and impossible to train, and her improvisation in a high-pressure moment was special."
• "Ashley Muliawan broke through in a big way, winning the discus with a lifetime best. Ashley had never been higher than fourth at a conference meet and seeing her standing on top of the podium was honestly one of the highlights of my career."
• "We had to say goodbye to some amazing athletes this weekend, and while they will be impossible to replace, I am so glad we have their legacy to build on for years to come."

Up Next

• Widener will host a single-day Last Chance Qualifying Meet on May 13. Links for live stats and video will be posted to StevensDucks.com once available.

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