Photo by Julia Cronin ’92
MHC Track and Field athlete Mia Barnes competes during this past weekend’s Invitational
BY LEXI LOBDELL ’20
The Mount Holyoke College track & field team competed in the 2018 Wesleyan Invitational at the Bacon Field House on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Lyons performed well, resulting in five finishes in the top 10 over the course of the day.
Simone Jacob ’21 earned 10th place in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:33.05. Emma Raney ’20 and Emsie Cronin ’19 represented the Lyons in the 1,000-meter, respectively finishing 18th and 23rd with times of 3:21.98 and 3:32.58.
Raney earned a sixth-place finish in the one mile run, crossing the finish line at 5:39.68. Teammate Jacob followed closely behind, finishing 11th with a time of 5:40.66. Isabelle Wohlin ’21 earned a fifth place overall finish in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking in at 9.85.
In the 5,000-meter race, Michelle Serrano ’20, Brigit Wolf ’20 and Kayla Dillon ’20 finished ninth, 10th and 11th respectively. Serrano crossed the line at 20:28.45, Wolf at 21:25.41 and Dillon at 21:28.95. All three runners clocked in collegiate indoor track personal records. Julia Hecking ’19 represented the Lyons on the field in the weight throw, claiming 16th with a mark of 11.33m (37’ 2.25).
Dillon said that it was “great to see everyone truly competing and using the other teams to motivate themselves. Everyone raced with grit and many people had really gutsy finishes. It was exciting to race in a bigger meet with more competition and use the other runners to move up throughout the race. We practiced our paces a lot and it felt great to hit the right splits lap after lap.”
Dillon stressed the importance of teamwork this year for the Lyons. “We’re a small team but everyone is committed to showing up and giving it their all day in and day out. We’ve built this year around the idea of the ONE TEAM,” said Dillon, “working for each other and something bigger than our individual performances. We have a lot of momentum coming off of the last few meets and have our last regular season meet at MIT this weekend.”
The Lyons continue their season next Saturday in Cambridge, Massachusetts as they participate in the Gordon Kelly Invitational at MIT.