The Mount Holyoke College Fencing club team competed at the United States Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs’ College Fencing National Championships on April 9 and 10. Hosted at Rhode Island College, the competition saw Mount Holyoke face off against 38 other colleges and universities, including fellow Seven Sisters Smith College and Bryn Mawr College.
After two years of postponements, cancellations and virtual participation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 126th Boston Marathon returned to its regular Patriot’s Day schedule on April 18, 2022. The race — which, according to the Associated Press, consisted of over 28,000 runners — celebrated more than just a return to normalcy. The race also marked the 50th anniversary of women’s official participation in the event.
By Emily Tarinelli ’25
Sports Editor
After two years of postponements, cancellations and virtual participation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 126th Boston Marathon returned to its regular Patriot’s Day schedule on April 18, 2022. The race — which, according to the Associated Press, consisted of over 28,000 runners — celebrated more than just a return to normalcy. The race also marked the 50th anniversary of women’s official participation in the event.
This year’s winner of the women’s division was 28-year-old Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, the Associated Press reported. The victory came down to the last 385 yards, where Jepchirchir pulled ahead of Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh, according to ESPN. The pair remained neck-and-neck throughout the race, stealing the lead from each other eight times in the last mile, AP News said. Jepchirchir finished four seconds ahead of Yeshaneh with a time of 2:21:01 hours.
“I was feeling she was strong. I pushed it,” Jepchirchir told the Associated Press. “I fell behind. But I didn’t lose hope.”
According to the Daily Free Press, Switzerland’s Manuela Schar won the women’s wheelchair race in 1:41:08 hours.
As reported by The Guardian, women were barred from competing in the Boston Marathon until 1972. While this year’s race marked the 50th anniversary of Nina Kuscsik’s win in the first official women’s division, women began running in the marathon unofficially in 1966. This period — between 1966 and 1972 — was initially branded as the Boston Marathon’s “Unofficial Era,” but is now widely called the “Pioneer Era.”
According to the Associated Press, Bobbi Gibb is recognized as the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon. Gibb participated in 1966 as a “bandit,” a term given to unregistered runners.
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer officially registered for the race as “KV Switzer.” For some time, she was not given trouble because the sign-up form did not inquire about gender, according to The Guardian. However, when Jock Semple, the race director, saw her on the course, he attempted to physically push her off the road.
At long last, in 1972, eight women lined up beside the male competitors as the first official female runners in the marathon, WBUR reported.
This year, over 12,000 women entered the race. The lineup was particularly strong: Jepchirchir, who is an Olympic gold medalist, competed against Joyciline Jepkosgei and Degitu Azimeraw, who all brought “personal bests under [two] hours, 18 minutes — two minutes faster than the Boston course record,” according to WBUR.
“Oh, my God. It’s so cool. I mean, like, that fires me up so much, just knowing the high level of competition we’re going to have here,” Molly Seidel, an Olympic bronze medalist, told WBUR. “It’s always fun to get to the race and just know that you’re up against the best in the world.”
Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Athletics.
Abby Elliott ’25 focuses while doing the javelin throw at the Jerry Gravel Invitational on April 16.
By Gigi Picard ’22
Sports Editor
Mount Holyoke Track and Field finished their regular season at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sean Collier Invitational on Saturday, April 23.
Emma Doyle ’23 placed 12th in the discus throw with a season best of 31.07 meters. Doyle’s throw was the eighth best in Mount Holyoke Track and Field history. In the shot put, Doyle set a personal best at a 10.75 meter mark, landing eighth place overall with a sixth-place ranking in the Mount Holyoke program’s history.
On the javelin front, Allyson Joseph ’24 finished 13th at 22.78 meters, while Abby Elliott ’25 placed 20th at 16.48 meters.
“I felt pretty good about my performance and did much better than I expected,” Elliott said. “I think the team's attitude right now is very determined on giving it our all. I think a lot of us really are proud of ourselves and our performance in our last meet.”
On the track, Emily Hood ’24’s 3000-meter steeplechase landed her in third place with a time of 12:40.57 minutes. Hood’s finish was the seventh-fastest time for the event in the team’s history.
Tessa Lancaster ’25 finished fourth in the 1500-meter run, posting a time of 4:56.41 minutes, which is the eighth-fastest time in Mount Holyoke’s history. Sydney Nash ’22 earned a season best, finishing seventh in 5:12.25 minutes.
In the 400-meter dash, Simone Jacob ’22 placed eighth, claiming a personal best and the sixth-fastest program time with 1:01.72 minutes.
“Coming off of a [personal record] this week is a great way to go into our championship meet feeling confident but also rested,” Jacob said. “We are super excited to go into the championship season and put all of our hard work over the last months towards showing the other schools in the [New England Women’s and Men’s Conference] what we can do as a team.”
Leah Pendl-Robinson ’22 earned a top-20 time in the 100-meter dash, running the event in 14.61 seconds after missing most of the track and field season due to an injury.
“I felt a bit bummed about the season since I was out of commission for most of it, but now that I have been back for a couple of meets and weeks of practice I feel like I have a spark again inside me ready to compete,” Pendl-Robinson said. “I’m extra excited for what’s to come.”
“It is also my senior year and now that it is coming to a close I realize how much I will miss competing with the team and having those early morning practices with all my friends,” Pendl-Robinson continued. “I just want to thank everyone who has helped me along my recovery journey for my injury and … helped me to come back in the last few meets of my [undergraduate] athletic career.”
Lauren Selkin ’23 ran the 800-meter race and placed fourth with a time of 2:24.99 minutes. Despite it not being her usual event, her time is the ninth fastest in Mount Holyoke Track and Field history.
“I’m more of a distance runner, but it was fun to run and [root] my teammates on. I’m looking forward to the upcoming championship season. … I’m super excited to be part of the intense competition,” Selkin said.
Addison Heintz ’25 finished 12th in the 200-meter dash with a season-best time of 27.93 seconds.
“I am feeling good about my performance so far this season. … The season has been rewarding, it has been great to look back and see how much I improved and how much the team has improved as well,” Heintz said.
Track and Field finished the invite with the 4x400 meter relay run, where Kim Beaver ’25, Greta Trapp ’25, Jacob and Lancaster came in second place. With a time of 4:17.99 minutes, the relay team ran the eighth-fastest time in the program’s history.
“I am happy with the overall team performance from this past weekend. There were numerous [personal records] and season bests,” Track and Field’s Assistant Coach Alex Rachmaciej said.
On Saturday, April 30, the Lyons will travel to Smith College for the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference championship meet.
“Prep for championships looks like more rest for the athletes. This part of the season, we keep the intensity high and volume low so the athletes feel good going into the meets,” Rachmaciej stated.
The official season end for Track and Field will be the three-day NCAA Division III Championships in Geneva, Ohio from May 26-28.
Rachmaciej said that, “Takeaways we had for the season are that some of the areas that we lacked in the past are turning around and the team is becoming more well-rounded.”
The Mount Holyoke Ice Hockey club celebrated its senior players on Feb. 12 in a matchup against Smith College at Fitzpatrick Ice Skating Rink. The honored athletes included Emily Gitlin ’22, Luce Brandt ’22, Bethany Powell FP ’22, Nico Boutaugh ’22, Siqi Yang ’22, Carlie Poworoznek ’22, Rose Sheehan ’22 and Sammi Craig ’22.
In a series of diplomatic boycotts, several nations, including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada sent athletes, but no official delegations, to Beijing for the Winter Olympic Games. According to the BBC, this month’s boycotts were in opposition to the Chinese government’s human rights violations against Uyghur Muslim citizens.
Mount Holyoke Track and Field swept the competition in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Gordon Kelly Invitational this weekend. The unscored invitationals led to numerous personal bests and five Top 10 performances in Mount Holyoke’s program history.
Sitting in the stands by the poolside, Mount Holyoke families and students cheered on athletes competing in the annual Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving senior meet, hosted at home against Smith College on Feb. 5. Mount Holyoke triumphed with a score of 163-131, with diver Kathryn Murphy ’22 breaking the one-meter board school record for the second week in a row.
For Cheryl Anderson Chaney, swimming at Fairmount Water Works Pool in Philadelphia was a source of joy. As a teenager growing up in the 1960s, she learned to swim from her father, who worked for the water department, according to an article published by WHYY PBS. Chaney, who is Black, grew up during racial segregation, when restrictive laws made it challenging for communities of color to access adequate public services — including swimming pools.
Four foilists and four épéeists from Mount Holyoke Fencing represented the College at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Big One tournament on Saturday, Nov. 7. The competition, which was hosted by Vassar College, featured over 10 teams belonging to various NCAA athletic divisions, including Smith College, Dartmouth College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Female handball players are no longer required to wear bikini bottoms and sports bras in competition, according to a rule the International Handball Federation changed on Oct. 3. As reported by The New York Times, the rule originally stated that female athletes must wear bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg,” with sides that could not measure more than four inches.
