Results

March 20, 2021

The Basics

• The lead: Among a bevy of MAC-qualifying performances, graduate student Gina Dello Russo set a pair of facility records to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's outdoor track and field team Saturday at the season-opening Monarch Invitational, hosted by King's College.
• Location: Betzler Athletic Complex - Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
• Short Story: Running in her first collegiate meet since the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, Dello Russo completed the 100-meter dash in 12.66 seconds in the preliminary heat, which is the 12th-best time in Division III. She then topped the field in a time of 12.76 seconds to capture the gold medal. Dello Russo's time in both the prelims and the championship race topped the previous facility record of 12.80 seconds set back in 2019. Dello Russo would go on to set a facility record in the 200-meter dash one event later, topping the field in 25.45 seconds, which is the third-fastest time in Division III this season.
• The Score: Team scores were not compiled.
• Of Note: It was the first team competition for the track & field program since the 2020 All-Atlantic Region Indoor Championships, which were held Mar. 6-7 in Rochester, New York. It's the first outdoor team competition for the program since the Ram Invite, held Mar. 29-30, 2019 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Top Finishers

• Sophomore Laura Mathews earned silver in the 100, completing the race in a MAC-qualifying time of 13.42 seconds.
• In her first race in the event since May 2019, graduate student Melissa Barnes won gold in the 400-meter hurdles, completing the race in a MAC-qualifying time of 1:15.49.
• Junior AnaMaria Laccetti and classmate Samantha Reilly each qualified for the MAC Outdoor Championships in the shot put. Laccetti reached 10.73 meters to finish third, while Reilly hit 10.46 meters to place fourth. Both student-athletes easily cleared the 9.14 qualifying standard. Reilly would close her day by finishing third in the javelin with a MAC-qualifying throw of 28.48 meters. 
• Laccetti also qualified for the conference meet with a second-place finish in the discus,reaching 30.73 meters. She also qualified in the hammer throw with a distance of 38.36 meters to capture bronze. 

Of Note

• Stevens claimed four of the eight spots in the 100-meter final, with sophomores Kristen Williams and Liana Meyer joining Dello Russo and Mathews in the championship race.
• In her first collegiate competition, first-year Allie Canciani reached 1.40 meters in the high jump. 
• Senior Jordan Detlet placed fourth in both the hammer throw and the javelin, qualifying for the conference meet in the hammer. 

From the Blocks

• "When you have so little time to get student-athletes ready for competition, it is hard to know what to expect. You hope for everyone to stay healthy and a handful of decent performances, but it's impossible to expect more than that. I'm blown away by how we competed from top to bottom today. Not only did we have a couple of lifetime bests and a few facility records, but even athletes who didn't perform well on the clock showed a tremendous amount of promise. This has the potential to be an incredibly special season." -Assistant Coach John Kolibab
• "I am very proud of how our team adapted and handled the protocols in place for today's meet. I'm also extremely proud of the team and how they performed; taking such a long break from competition can be a challenge but our team rose to the occasion and made the most out of the opportunity. Today was a good start to a great season." -Assistant Coach Tim Wilson
• "In the throws, we showed a lot of solid technical points and a lot of room for growth. For our student-athletes to not compete for so long, come back, and compete how they did today, I am very proud of them. Shaking the rust was the goal for the day and we achieved that. Now it's time to improve upon the groundwork we built today." -Assistant Coach Tim Wilson

Up Next

• Women's Track & Field heads to Chester, Pennsylvania for a two-day MAC-only meet, hosted by Widener University on Mar. 26-27. This will be the first of potentially five trips to Chester this season. 

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