Steph Mattson
Steph Mattson

Mattson Breaks 25-Year-Old School Record

NEW LONDON, Conn. – After breaking school records five times during the indoor season, Bentley University sophomore Stephanie Mattson (Smithfield, R.I./Smithfield HS) added the outdoor long jump standard to her collection, doing so while winning the event during the Silfen Invitational Saturday at Connecticut College.

Mattson cleared 18 feet, 7 inches to take possession of the Bentley record  (18'2.75") that Kim Overy had owned since 1992. It bettered her former best by more than ten inches and became the top distance achieved in the Northeast-10 Conference so far this season.

Mattson was also the runner-up in a field of 61 in the 200 meters (27.16), 12th of 40 in the 100 with her 13.22 clocking a PR by 0.23 seconds, and a member of two Bentley relays. She helped the Falcons finish third of eight in the 4x400 (4:11.83, fourth best NE10) and fifth of 11 in the 4x400 (51.88).

Senior Julia Morena (Boylston, Mass./Tahanto Reg. HS) improved on her personal best in the 1500 by 1.06 seconds with a 4:50.83. She finished third of 47 overall while moving to ninth on the conference's performance list and tenth in program history.

Also in the 1500, freshman Abbie Newman (Hanson/Whitman-Hanson Reg. HS) was ninth in 4:58.49. That lowered her PR by more than ten seconds.

Bentley also received a ninth-place finish from freshman Dom Balzora-Rivert (Templeton. Mass./Narragansett Reg. HS) in the triple jump (32'0.25").

Freshman Kayla Fraser (East Longmeadow/East Longmeadow HS) climbed to ninth in program history in the long jump, finishing 11th of 31 (15'6.75", a new PR).

All told, Bentley achieved at least a dozen new PRs while finishing ninth among 17 teams with 42 points. Connecticut College edged Trinity College for team honors, 107.5-90.

Next Saturday, Bentley will compete in meets at UC San Diego (Triton Invitational) and MIT (Sean Collier Invitational).