NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (Sept. 8, 2012) – Paced by a seventh-place finish from first year Elizabeth DeLeon, the Mount Holyoke cross country team to fourth overall at the season-opening Pioneers Invitational at Smith College. The Lyons posted a combined score of 112 points in the meet, which featured 14 teams.

DeLeon (Boise, Idaho/Timberline) finished the 5k course in a time of 20:32.45. Additionally, she was one of four first year student-athletes to finish in the top 10 in the race. The second finisher for the Lyons was sophomore Dana Fry (Avon, Conn./Miss Porter's School), who was 12th overall with a mark of 20:45.48.

Senior Julia Merton (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) posted a time of 21:32.34 to place 27th overall. Classmate Phoebe Tengdin (Hanover, N.H./Hanover), was close behind, finishing 30th overall with a mark of 21:38.34. 

Junior Lucia Garcia (Bakersfield, Calif./East Bakersfield) was 44th on the afternoon with a time of 22:18.52, while sophomore Elizabeth Baker (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore Catholic School) finished 51st in a time of 22:33.25.

Smith junior Kylee Drugan-Eppich was the top individual finisher with at time of 19:59.41, winning the race by less than a second over teammate Danielle Opatovsky, who had a time of 19:59.81.

As a team, Wellesley College and Smith College finished in a two-way tie for first, both posting 53 combined points. Coast Guard Academy was third with 77 points, followed by Mount Holyoke and WPI in fourth (112) and fifth (123), respectively.

The Lyons return to the course on Saturday at the UMASS-Dartmouth Invitational. That race is scheduled to begin at 12pm.