Mattingly O’Rourke

Mattingly O’Rourke ran her first race at 8 years old. It was a Turkey Trot mile with her dad, but she says that was where her love for running began.

“That’s where it started,” O’Rourke said. “From there, I started doing more road races and field day in elementary school and then worked my way up. When I got to middle school, I really wanted to join the track team. We didn’t have a modified team at the time, so in eighth grade I ended up trying out and made varsity by the end of the season.”

O’Rourke’s household is full of runners. Her father, Jeffrey, helped get her into running, and her sister Allie, a fellow CDSWOY recipient, runs at Penn State. As you can imagine, the sibling rivalry pushed both girls to improve their times.

“Since we’re siblings, we’re naturally competitive with each other,” Mattingly said. “It also gave me motivation, because we could push each other. It wasn’t just about who was faster, but about how we each wanted to perform. We were able to support each other, and even though we were very different as runners and teammates, we both had things we could learn from one another.”

By the end of high school, O’Rourke had fallen in love with running. Though she had the desire to continue competing at the collegiate level, there were other factors that drew her to Siena University, where she didn’t have a scholarship offer, meaning she’d have to walk on to the team there.

“I was already looking at Siena for academics,” O’Rourke said. “My aunt had gone there before me, and I really wanted to go to a school that had the Franciscan or Catholic value system I kind of grew up with, because my faith is a huge part of who I am. When I learned more about the coaching staff and the team environment, that also stood out to me. I didn’t meet the team until after I had committed, but I knew I wanted to work hard for a team that I thought would feel like family.”

O’Rourke quickly established herself as one of the hardest-working athletes on campus. Driven by a desire to prove her dedication to her new teammates, O’Rourke went the extra mile to show up early, work hard, and perform her best on race day, when it mattered most. Her hard work was evident in her results.

From a walk-on simply trying to make the team, O’Rourke improved every year of her career at Siena. Her freshman year, she finished 105th at the MAAC Cross Country Championship and mostly ran relays in track. Her junior year, she ran a personal-best in the m at the MAAC Championships, the third-fastest time in Siena history, and placed fourth at both the indoor and outdoor MAAC Track Championships. Her senior year, she finished 38th at the MAAC Cross Country Championship after dropping more than four minutes off her K time.

“Our team unanimously voted Mattingly a captain her senior year,” said Elizabeth DeBole, Head Cross Country and Track coach at Siena. “She is respected by other coaches throughout the conference and always shows support for her competitors—she says it actually helps her pre-race anxiety to view competitors as friends who are there to help her get better. What a great way to view those around you!”

O’Rourke says she’s passionate about helping women around her be the best they can be. She recently got involved with an organization called Mom Starts Here that helps moms in need in a variety of ways.

“I’m really passionate about women in a lot of different spaces, especially women’s health,” said O’Rourke. “Mom Starts Here is an organization that supports moms in need, whether that’s through counseling, baby items, food, or other resources. That was something I had wanted to get involved with for a long time, so I was really glad to connect with it this year.”

“Mattingly is a role model in every sense of the word,” said DeBole. “Her commitment to volunteering within the local community is, in my opinion, what sets her apart from her peers. She encourages her teammates to become involved in the community as well, always saying yes to whatever opportunity comes our way.”

The Schenectady native stayed local to attend Siena, and she plans to stay in the area for her next step, working at Proctors Collaborative.

“When I accepted my job there, it really felt like coming home in a way,” said O’Rourke. “I used to do my dance recitals there growing up, so now getting to give back to the community through my work feels very tied to who I am and to the service-oriented mindset I have.”

While many students travel to schools across the state, country, and even the world to pursue athletic or academic dreams, O’Rourke has spent her life as part of the same area. She says she’s often wondered if it was the right decision to stay so close to home, but being part of a loving community has made everything worth it.

“Winning this award makes me feel like that choice was worth it,” she said. “It was worth not going far away and instead staying in this community. It was worth being an active role model for the women in this community that I’ve met and worked with. It was worth all the time and hours spent building and helping in the community in every way I could. I’m really proud of the things I’ve done, and it feels very honoring to receive this award knowing I could have gone far away for school but instead chose to stay here and do this kind of work. I’m very grateful because it always seems like God puts me in the right place and where I need to be at the right time.”