East Brunswick High School Grad Rewriting Record Books for Penn Track and Field

East Brunswick High School alumnus Sam Mattis went from smashing high school records in the discus throw to setting the college world on its ear, and it didn’t take him much time to do it.

In his very first throw as a member of the University of Pennsylvania track and field team, Mattis set a new school record with a throw of 189 feet, 2 inches, according to pennathletics.com. It bested the previous school record, set by Chuck Hinton in 1994, by six feet.

By the end of the year, Mattis had surpassed his own record-setting performance with a throw of 191 feet, 5 inches at the Heptagonal Championships, becoming the first Quaker to win the title in 10 years and setting a record for the meet, which determines the Ivy League’s individual champions.

He was named first-team all-conference as a result of his victory.

Despite his successes, the East Brunswick High School record holder who won national championships his junior and senior year describes his season as “up-and-down.”

“I had a few good meets. I broke the record at the Ivy League championships, but at regionals, I had a really bad meet,” said Mattis, a three-time high school state champion and Penn Relays champion as a senior. “I had a bad day at the wrong time. I needed to throw very well and I just didn’t.”

Mattis admitted the transition from high school to an Ivy League university was difficult. After studying, going to class, taking exams and practices that last three or four hours, Mattis said he got about six hours of sleep a night before starting all over again.

As a result he wasn’t able to put forth a 100 percent effort for practice, something he wants to correct when it’s time to start getting ready for the winter season.

“Nothing fully prepares you for the transition,” said Mattis, who wrote about the subject of time management for Wharton Magazine.

He also throws the shot put. In the winter season, he finished seventh at the Heptagonal Championships. In the spring, he finished ninth.

He wants to improve on the shot put. He’s also adding the hammer throw to his tasks as a sophomore.

While he is looking to improve his performance in the throwing pit, there’s not much room for improvement in the classroom. Mattis had a 3.57 grade point average (GPA) as a freshman. He is an undergraduate at the Wharton School, where he is studying finance.

Over the summer, he’s working as a teaching assistant for Math Game Theory, and is doing research with a professor at the Business school.

Academics were a big reason Mattis chose to attend Penn, as was the track and field team’s coaching staff.

While looking forward to the next three years of his career, Mattis can reflect on a freshman season in which he broke the school record twice and had an additional “five or 10 throws that would’ve broken the old record.”

“It was a pretty special,” Mattis said. “I knew I could do it. My family and friends were there. It was a cool moment.”