Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Athletics.
By Zellie Calavita ’26
Mount Holyoke College Track & Field finished in a close 2nd at their last indoor meet of the season, which took place at Smith College on Saturday, Feb. 17. With 56 points, they beat out Smith’s 54.5 points and narrowly missed Wellesley College's 56.5 points.
Ioanna Tsoni ’27 finished 1st in four different events, including the 60-meter dash, where Tsoni finished in 8.12 seconds and moved from 3rd to 2nd place in Mount Holyoke’s all-time records. Aria Mallare ’25 won the high jump with a personal best of 1.51 meters and gained a spot at number 5 in Mount Holyoke’s all-time records.
Clocking in at 5:12.70, Tessa Lancaster ’25 beat her personal record mile time and jumped from 6th to 3rd place in the school’s all-time records. “We had a lot of people competing in multiple events and even trying events for the first time today. It was so fun to be at a meet where everyone could watch each other compete, and it was great to see so many people end the [indoor] season on a high note with personal records and season bests,” Lancaster said.
Kim Beaver ’25 also beat a personal record and moved up three spots in the all-time records, putting her in 5th place in the records and 2nd at the meet in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:23.45.
The distance medley relay secured the Lyons’ lead in front of Smith. Leading off was Greta Trapp ’25, who ran 1200 meters in 4:03.24, followed by Olivia Johnson ’25, who ran 400 meters in 1:08.77 and Beaver, running 800 meters in 2:25.74. Lancaster’s 1600-meter run in 5:12.56 finished up the relay, giving Mount Holyoke the win in 12:50.33.
“My teammates all put me in a great position to race for the 1600,” Lancaster said of the relay in an email interview with Mount Holyoke News. “I ended up passing [a Wellesley runner] with 600 to go and I just remember all of my teammates exploding with noise. That really gave me the boost I needed to hold on to the lead and finish in first.”
“There were so many PRs, season bests, and even school records broken,” Chloe Broadwell ’25 said. “Everyone showed up and did their best and were around all of the events cheering whenever they could.”
Mount Holyoke Track & Field will begin their outdoor season on Saturday, March 23, at the J. Elmer Swanson Spring Classic at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.