BIDDEFORD, Maine – Back in action for the first time in nearly two years, Suffolk women's track & field did not disappoint as three Rams garnered four weekly awards from the Commonwealth Coast Conference, the league office announced Monday afternoon. Amanda Walden swept the track awards with CCC Track Athlete and Rookie of the Week nods, while Allison Rodrigues and Grace Dreher were named field athlete and rookie of the week, respectively.
The accolades come on the heels of Suffolk's standout showing at the Gordon Invite last Saturday, April 10 where the Rams won eight of the nine events they competed in. The trio of Dreher, Rodrigues and Walden were responsible for seven of those victories.
On the track, Walden sprinted her way to a pair of victories. The freshman from Foxboro, Massachusetts, won both the 100 and 200 in her collegiate debut. In the 100, she posted the ninth-best time in New England this season of 13.08 to top the eight-runner field, before recording the second-best performance in the region in the 200, 26.84.
Rodrigues tossed her way to victory in all four events she competed in. The junior captain easily won the discus, hammer throw, javelin and shot put and recorded regional marks in a pair of events. The North Andover, Massachusetts native threw the shot put 11.40 meters, which marks the fifth-best New England performance this year, and produced the seventh-best regional threw in the javelin of 34.12 meters. Her performance also contained a 31.78-meter discus showing and a 32.78-meter hammer throw.
Dreher jumped her way into the Rams' record books in her first college meet. The rookie from Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey recorded a program-best triple jump of 9.48, which is the 10th-best performance New England in 2021. She also competed in the long jump where she finished fourth behind a 4.52-meter leap.
The CCC weekly accolades are the first for the program who is in its inaugural year in the conference. Rodrigues garnered her third weekly honor in her outdoor career, first as the athlete of the week with the prior pair being GNAC Rookie of the Week accolade. She if the first Suffolk female outdoor fielder to be tabbed the best fielder over a seven-day stretch in program history. Dreher is the second-ever blue-and-gold female fielder to earn the distinction behind Rodrigues' two GNAC nods in 2019. Walden is the second Ram to be the best track athlete in the conference over a week's span, first since Emma Weisse '19 was the inaugural honoree April 23, 2018 by the GNAC, and is the first-ever Suffolk female to earn rookie of the week for track events in the outdoor season.
Suffolk is back in action this weekend when it heads back to Wenham, Massachusetts, for the second straight Gordon Invite Saturday, April 17.