Steph Mattson
Steph Mattson

Mattson Leads Bentley during John Thomas Invitational

BOSTON, Mass. – Continuing her string of strong performances for the Bentley University women's track and field team, junior Stephanie Mattson (Smithfield, R.I./Smithfield HS) excelled in both the 400 meters and the long jump during the John Thomas Terrier Invitational Friday at Boston University.

Mattson was ninth of 44 in the long jump after clearing 17 feet, 8 inches on her second attempt of the meet. That put her first among non-Division I participants and left her less than two inches away from a top-four finish.

She also was 22nd of 85 in the 400 meters with her 58.59 second time her best indoors since the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on the same track last February. Among Division II competitors, she was the third to cross the finish line.

Mattson also helped the Falcons to a solid showing in the 4x400 relay with the Falcons' time of 4:12.95 the seventh best recorded in the Northeast-10 Conference this season. Mattson, classmate Abby Forman (Altamont, N.Y./Guilderland HS), freshman Abby Caulfield (Northport, N.Y./Northport HS) and sophomore Kirsten Lebreux (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford HS) placed 21st of 30 overall and second among Division II student-athletes.

Four Bentley runners turned in new personal bests. Two of those came in the 200 with sophomore Dom Balzora-Rivert (Templeton/Narragansett Reg. HS) improving her PR by 0.09 seconds with a 27.07 and classmate Chantel Lewis (Bronx, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science and Match) finishing a hundredth-of a second later, an improvement of 0.27 seconds. The two now rank sixth and seventh, respectively, on the program's all-time list.

Freshman Sydney Hurwitz (Newton/Newton North HS) lowered her best in the 60 hurdles .09 seconds to 9.70, and junior Tina Touri (Watertown/Watertown HS) ran the 800 in 2:26.66, taking more than two seconds off her previous best. Caulfield was right behind her in the 800, finishing in 2:26.91.

Next weekend, Bentley will compete in the New England Championships at Reggie Lewis Center.