By: Story Courtesy of Stevens Athletics

AUSTIN, Texas (July 9, 2024) – Stevens Institute of Technology graduate student Laura Mathews was named a Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country First Team Academic All-American, while graduate student Rachel Rouse was named a Third Team Academic All-American the College Sports Communicators (CSC), the organization announced Tuesday.

Rouse becomes the second student-athlete in school history and the first female to achieve Academic All-American status in multiple sports, as she had previously won two Academic All-American awards for women's soccer in both 2022 and 2023. Tom Palilonis '79 earned the award twice, as he earned the award in 1978 as a member of the basketball team, and in 1979 as a member of the baseball team. The award is the first for Mathews to cap off one of the most impressive years in Stevens Women's Track & Field history.

Mathews dominated during both the indoor and outdoor Stevens for the women's track and field team. She earned five All-American honors, three in the winter and two in the spring, which culminated in a national championship in the 100-meter hurdles in May. In addition, she was named the Metro Region and Middle Atlantic Conference Track Athlete of the Year for both indoor and outdoor track. The Denville, New Jersey native leaves Stevens holding 12 school records, and eight conference records. In addition to her performances on the track, Mathews found success in the classroom, as she posted a 3.89 semester GPA in the spring. The Industrial & Systems Engineering major earned multiple academic awards this season, including being named Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators, as well as being a MAC Senior Scholar Athlete for both the winter and spring seasons.

Rouse was impressive for Stevens all-year long, as she hit the track in the winter and spring after competing on the pitch in the fall. During the outdoor season, the graduate student was part of the 4x800 relay team that finished fifth in the MAC, although her split time of 2:22.35 was the third best out of all the competitors. She finished eighth at the mile in the MAC Indoor Championships in her first ever conference meet. In the classroom, Rouse continues to maintain a perfect 4.0 graduate cumulative grade-point average as a business intelligence and analytics major after completing her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a bachelor's degree in economics with a dual minor in mathematics and accounting. She will also earn a graduate certificate from Stevens in accounting and analytics. The Academic All-American nod is her second for this Academic year.  

Mathews and Rouse were the lone student-athletes selected that called the Middle Atlantic Conference home. 17 of the 37 members of the Division III Women's Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America teams boast a perfect 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate work or graduate school. The entire women's team holds a collective GPA of 3.82.

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