Laura Pumphrey of East Hampton, Conn., Earns NEWMAC Track and Field Weekly Award

2015 Apr 21

Laura Pumphrey of the WPI track and field team garnered NEWMAC weekly honors on Monday afternoon. The awards came after the Crimson and Gray swept the Eric Loeschner Memorial Meet hosted by Fitchburg State on Saturday.

David Frederick won a pair of events en route to being name NEWMAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week. The freshman achieved a personal-best height of 15-3 to claim the pole vault and won the javelin with a throw of 173-7.

Eizabeth Pellegrini, the NEWMAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week, went from 62nd to 16th nationally in the 400-meter hurdles with a winning time of 1:03.41. The junior was also part of the 4x100 meter relay along with Sara Velleca, Alex Price and Maya Rhinehart that ran a 48.48 to claim gold and NEWMAC Women's Relay of the Week honors and placed second in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 15.47. The relay time is 24th on the NCAA D-III performance list.

Laura Pumphrey, a three-time All-America high jumper, shared NEWMAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week with MIT's Ashley Wheeler. Pumphrey, cleared a height of 5-7 in Fitchburg and in the process moved from 26th to ninth nationally in Division III.

WPI track and field is back at it this Saturday, competing in the NEWMAC Championships at MIT.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.