ANNVILLE, Pa. (December 9, 2019)  – After a record-setting performance at the season-opening TCNJ Indoor Open Saturday evening, freshman Laura Mathews of the Stevens Institute of Technology women's indoor track & field team was named Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Indoor Track Athlete of the Week Monday, the league office announced.

It's the first career Player of the Week honor for the Denville, New Jersey and the first for the Ducks' Track & Field and Cross Country program since joining the conference last July. 

"We are extremely pleased that Laura was able to break our 60-meter hurdle record so handily," said women's track & field assistant coach John Kolibab. "Her training has really started to pay off. With that being said, there's still plenty of room to grow. Her prelim race was conservative, but very technically sound, while her finals race was much more aggressive, but not as technically sound. If she can put a race together, with the rhythm of the prelim and the aggression of the final, we're in for a truly special mark."

Competing in her first collegiate meet, the first-year student-athlete broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles, winning the race in 8.95 seconds to top the previous Stevens mark of 9.26 seconds set in 2014. Mathews, who recorded the exact same time in her preliminary heat, topped seven other runners in the championship race, including four Division I runners. Mathews' time is the fastest run in Division III to date.

Mathews also joined classmate Liana Meyer and seniors Melissa Barnes and Gina Dello Russo in breaking the school's 4x400-meter relay record. The quartet finished the race in 4:05.94 and won their heat by nearly four seconds. The time surpassed Stevens' previous record of 4:08.62 set in 2010.

Click here for the conference's official release. 

Up Next: Women's Track & Field returns to the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory on Friday, Jan. 17 for the Ramapo Opener, hosted by Ramapo College. 

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