CHESTER, Pa. (May 6, 2021)  – Junior AnaMaria Laccetti placed third in the hammer to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's and women's outdoor track and field team Thursday on the first day of competition at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships.

Graduate student Dylan Peters placed fifth in the 10,000 as the Ducks scored in two events on the day. Through the first day of competition, the men's team stands in seventh place, while the women are tied for eighth. The hosting Widener University Pride sit atop both leaderboards, totaling 27 points on the men's side and 19, to tie with Misericordia University and Lebanon Valley College, on the women's side.

"Great start to our first-ever MAC Outdoor Championships!" said head coach Lance Harden. "AnaMaria and Jordan led us off with a bang in the women's hammer, making the finals and placing two spots better than they were seeded coming in to score seven big points for our women's team."

"Along with AnaMaria's personal best in the hammer, Dylan Peters and Liam Concannon each improved their 10K times by a minute!" Harden continued. "Dylan ran a smart, patient, and gutsy race to catch the chase pack in the final mile. He took the lead of that group and applied pressure at the stage when everyone is hurting, successfully gapping his competitors. Liam similarly showed good restraint to lay off the early surges in pace, and his self-discipline paid off over the final mile as he was able to catch competitors and outkick them."

The women's hammer throw was the first event of the day for the Ducks. Competing in the second flight, Laccetti reached a career-best 43.40 meters on her third attempt to finish third out of 26 competing student-athletes. Senior Jordan Detlet also scored in the event, reaching 37.50 meters on her third attempt.

"Jordan and AnaMaria did a fantastic job executing our game plan," said assistant coach Tim Wilson. "Jordan has been unable to throw for a while, but that did not stop her from making an impact. Throwing 37.50 meters for eighth place is a great start to her weekend. AnaMaria has been improving all season and it showed in today's competition; throwing 43.40 meters and taking third place is a great momentum builder for the rest of her weekend!"

In the men's hammer throw, first-year Colin Keady reached 39.58 meters on his second attempt to finish 11th out of 18 competing student-athletes. 

"As a first-year, the conference meet is a great learning experience," Wilson shared. "Colin did not shy away from the moment and hit the second-best throw of his career. Dealing with the adversity in today's meet just showed how much of a gamer he is. Unfortunately, he was just short of making the finals, but I know that it adds fuel to the fire for Colin in discus tomorrow."

In the final event of the day, Peters scored four team points with his fifth-place time of 31:56.36 in the 10,000, which surpassed his previous personal-best time of 32:55.77 by nearly a minute. First-year Liam Concannon placed 18th with a new personal-best time of 34:03.17, trimming more than a minute off his previous mark. 

Up Next: The second day of the conference championship meet kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Links for live stats and video are available at StevensDucks.com.

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