MEDFORD, MA (April 7, 2026) – After a record-setting debut to her outdoor season on Saturday, junior
Simi Lawal of the Tufts University women's track & field team has been named as the New England Small College Athletic Conference Track Athlete of the Week.
Competing for the first time since the NCAA Indoor Championship meet on March 13-14, Lawal broke the school record in the 100-meter dash and ran the anchor leg for the 4x100-meter relay that also broke the school record at the Amherst Spring Fling meet on April 4.
Lawal's time of 11.69 seconds in the 100 broke the 10-year old school record of 11.88 held by Alexis Harrison since 2016. Lawal was first out of 32 individuals at the meet. The 11.69 mark is currently ranked second in the nation for Division III. The time is also the 23rd-fastest mark for the 100 in DIII history.
In the 4x1, Lawal and sophomore teammates
Elysse Cumberland,
Makayla Moriarty and
Arielle Chechile ran a time of 46.37 seconds that broke their own school record of 47.17 from last year's New England Division III Championships. The 46.37 at Amherst stands as the #1 time in the country at the moment.
Lawal also won the 200 meters out of 41 competitors at Amherst with a time of 25.20 seconds. Her outdoor PR in the event, it ranks her sixth all-time at Tufts and is #45 on the DIII chart this season.
At the 2026 NCAA Indoor meet, Lawal earned two first-team All-American awards with a fourth in the 60-meter dash and a sixth in the 200.
This is Tufts' first NESCAC Athlete of the Week honor for the 2026 season. Lawal is the Tufts women's first NESCAC Athlete of the Week in track events since Brittany Bowman in 2018.
--JUMBOS--
