Wheaton's women sweep individual NEWMAC track honors, Williamson named men's rookie of the year

April 29, 2008

WORCESTER, MA- The Wheaton College women's track and field team swept the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference's (NEWMAC) three major individual awards, and the men's squad saw freshman Mark Williamson (Vienna, VA/James Madison) earn the team's second rookie-of-the-year honor in three seasons during the conference's postseason meeting at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Tuesday. The women took the athlete-of-the-year, rookie-of-the-year and coach-of-the-year honors for the second time in three seasons and for the fourth time overall.

After Wheaton's women won their 10th league title in 11 years and their ninth in the NEWMAC's 10-year history, sophomore Renee Thompson (Hartford, CT/Weaver) earned top athlete honors, while freshman Laurenmaria Smith (Providence, RI/Hope) was named rookie of the year. For the ninth time in 13 seasons, 14th-year head coach Paul Souza received the league's highest coaching accolade.

Thompson, who drew Wheaton's eighth athlete-of-the-year award in the past 10 seasons, earned three all-conference honors to go alongside two third-place showings while competing in six events on Saturday at the NEWMAC Championship at Smith College. She won the 400-meter dash before running a leg for the top 4x100M and 4x400M relay teams, which missed provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship by 0.08 and 0.81 seconds, respectively. Thompson helped the 4x400M relay squad set a NEWMAC meet record at 3:56.81. She also came in third during the 200M and long jump while tying for the third-best height in the high jump during a fifth-place finish.

Smith, the 10th Lyon in 13 years to corral the league's top rookie accolade, ran a leg for the winning 4x100-meter relay quartet while finishing third in the 100M and fourth in the 200M. Souza drew outright coaching honors for the eighth time, having shared the 2001 award, as he has led Wheaton to 11 league crowns.

Williamson played a hand in three victories and two NEWMAC Championship records at the league meet, as he earned his initial three all-conference honors. Williamson won the 400-meter dash in 48.48, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship while eclipsing the league standard by 0.09 seconds. He pushed the 4x100M relay quartet to a first-place time of 42.45, breaking another NEWMAC mark. Williamson and the 4x400M relay team came in second, as he played a role in 28 of Wheaton's 71 points during the meet. Williamson is the fifth Lyon in 10 years to be named the conference's top rookie.

Wheaton's teams return to action on Saturday, as they compete at the Mason Outdoor Invitational at George Mason University beginning at 10:00 a.m.

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