Track and field places 12th at Tufts Cupid Challenge with three event scores

Elle Rimando moved into fifth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the long jump at the Tufts Cupid Challenge on Feb. 4, 2023. (RJB Sports file photo)

MEDFORD, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College track and field team placed 12th out of 13 teams at the highly competitive Tufts Cupid Challenge on Saturday, scoring 18 team points on the strength of three strong event performances by sophomore Tessa Lancaster, senior Emma Doyle and first-year Elle Rimando.

Mount Holyoke's 18 points edged Brandeis for 12th place out of 13 scoring teams. Wellesley was a point ahead of the Lyons in 11th place.

Lancaster (Mansfield, Mass.) finished second out of 23 runners in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best time of 10:37.55, 1.01 seconds ahead of Amherst's Julia Schor and 2.53 seconds behind overall winner Lauren Pollak of Tufts. Lancaster bettered her previous personal best time of 10:45.26 from a year ago, and jumped from eighth to sixth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the event, passing Elizabeth DeLeon from 2016 and Katy Trandem from 2000.

Doyle (West Lebanon, N.H.) took second place out of 41 competitors in the shot put, coming within two centimeters of her personal-best mark at 11.29 meters (37'0.5"). Doyle also placed ninth out of 36 competitors in the weight throw, one place out of the team scoring, with a top effort of 11.73 meters (38'6"), a meter shy of her best.

Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) long-jumped a season-best 5.04 meters (16'6.5"), good for seventh place out of 21 competitors and two team points. The jump moved Rimando past Chiara Davis Fuller from 2002 and into fifth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list.

Rimando also placed ninth out of 35 athletes in the 60-meter dash, one place outside of team scoring, in 8.29 seconds.

Other standout performances by the Lyons included:

Sophomore Kim Beaver (Agawam, Mass.) ran a PR in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:47.16, knocking 0.71 seconds off her previous best. Beaver is 0.67 seconds from Mount Holyoke's top-10 list in the event.
Senior Devan Ravino (West Kingston, R.I.) placed 17th in the 1,000 meters in 3:15.50, cutting nearly 3 seconds off of her previous personal best (3:18.36).
Junior Bridget Hall (Arlington, Mass.) led three Lyons in the 5,000 meter run with an 11th-place time of 19:55.45. Junior Orion Griesmer (Austin, Texas) and first-year Maya Evans (Topsfield, Mass.) placed 13th and 14th in 20:24.47 and 20:51.72, respectively.

Mount Holyoke competes Friday at the Dave Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University. On Saturday the Lyons will compete at Middlebury.