BY GIGI PICARD ’22
RIDING
The Mount Holyoke riding team started off their 2019 season with a second-place finish at the Preseason Tournament of Champions on Saturday, Sept. 21, held at the University of Connecticut. The Lyons finished second out of 18 competing teams from the East Coast with 35 points.
Sierra Dunn ’22 and Sarah Etzel ’20 both placed second in their intermediate flat sections.
Georgia Fish ’23 placed fifth overall in open fences with Sara Hearn ’21 finishing second in the second section of open fences. Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar ’20 placed fifth for intermediate fences.
Johanna Sullivan ’23 competed in the first section of limit. Maddi Grossman ’23 followed in the first split of novice.
Yixuan He ’21 placed third in the first section of the introductory division. Sullivan returned for the first section of the low medal flat phase. Angela Cheng ’20 finished fifth in the second section of the introductory class.
Hearn came up with a blue ribbon in the open fences while Sinead O’Sullivan ’21 took second in the second split of novice.
Marina McDonald ’23 and Faith Wang ’22 rode in the second split of the low medal flat phase. McDonald progressed to the jumping phase and earned the Champion title in the low medal class. Hearn finished in 10th place in the high medal class.
The Lyons will head to the Worcester State Show in Berlin, Massachusetts for their next competition on Saturday, Oct. 5.
GOLF
The Mount Holyoke golf team recently hosted the Mount Holyoke College Golf Invitational at the Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley. The two-day tournament began on Saturday, Sept. 21 with competition continuing the following day.
On the first day, Susan Lee ’20 shot an 83 and had a team-best 12 pars. She was followed up by Cortney Qiu ’22 with a score of 86. Qiu went -1 on par 5s with two birdies.
Competition resumed on Sunday, Sept. 22 and the Lyons saw Spitzer go +1 with a scoring average of 3.13 on par 3s. Spitzer shot a team-best 80 (+8) and finished in a tie for 45th, with a combined score of 172.
The Lyons rounded out the competition in 10th place with a combined 695 strokes. The golf team will return to action this weekend as they travel to Middlebury College to compete in the George Phinney Golf Classic on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29.
FIELD HOCKEY
Mount Holyoke field hockey fell to Clark University 3-1 in their weekend matchup. The Lyons outshot Clark 17-13 with Margaret Robb ’22 putting in six shots with one shot on goal. Goalkeeper Morgan Turner ’20 had a total of five saves.
With the loss to Clark, the Lyons now move to 2-4 this season. They hosted Western New England U. for their following match on Thursday, Sept. 26.
VOLLEYBALL
The Mount Holyoke volleyball team was swept by host Wellesley College 3-0 on Saturday, Sept. 21. With the loss, the Lyons move to 2-9 on the season and 0-1 against conference opponents.
Marianne Simon ’23 led the Lyons with seven kills, two digs and an ace. Sarah Bishop ’22 had five kills with six digs. Sasha Simine ’20 came up with three kills and five blocks. A team-high seven digs with eight assists went to Brayden Walden ’21.
Lyons volleyball returned home to host Coast Guard Academy in play on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
CROSS COUNTRY
Mount Holyoke cross country ran at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Lyons varsity team placed second out of 37 teams with 92 points. They were the top Division III team in the meet, runner-up to Division I Trinity College. In the sub-varsity race, the Lyons came in fourth place overall. Lyons cross country will race at the Codfish Bowl on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Franklin Park, Massachusetts.
New cross country rankings
Mount Holyoke cross country has entered the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Regional Rankings for the first time in program history. The No. 8 ranked Lyons are currently ranked third for New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference teams, behind No. 1 MIT and No. 6 Coast Guard Academy.