Track and field enjoys a day full of personal bests and top-10 list movement at Wesleyan meet

Tessa Lancaster became Mount Holyoke's fifth-fastest performer ever in the outdoor 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:44.35 on March 26, 2023 at the Wesleyan Swanson Classic. (RJB Sports file photo)

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- With a slew of career-best performances, the Mount Holyoke track and field team opened its outdoor meet season by rewriting its all-time outdoor event performance lists in six places on a warm Sunday at Wesleyan University's Elmer Swanson Classic, a non-scoring event.

Headlining a day full of PR's for the Lyons, senior captain Emma Doyle (West Lebanon, N.H.) placed second out of 28 competitors in the shot put, with her top attempt traveling 12.29 meters (40'3.75"). Her personal-best effort moved Doyle from sixth place into second place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the shot put, trailing only record-holder Amanda Salb from 1999 (14.45 meters). Doyle passed Amber Legare (2014), Miriam Larson-Koester (2010), Jacinta Edebeli (2011), and the former second place, Andi Villasenor (11.75 meters in 2007), on the list.

In the final event of the day, Doyle notched another personal record, topping out at 32.85 meters (107'9") in the discus throw to move up from eighth to sixth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list, past Jen Bivens (1992) and Connie Ward (2013).

Doyle also finished third out of 23 competitors in the first hammer throw competition of the year, with a top effort of 34.40 meters (112'10").

Other Lyons highlights on the day included:

Sophomore Aria Mallare (Chicago, Ill.) tied for seventh place out of 15 competitors in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.48 meters (4'10.25"). That vaulted her onto Mount Holyoke's top-10 all-time performance list in the event, into seventh place. Mallare passed Alexis Leonard (1999), Shante Henderson (2015), Amber Legare (2014) and Maeve Stier (2012) on the top-10 list.
Mallare also ran the 11th-fastest time among 23 competitors in the 100-meter dash, at 13.55 seconds. And Mallare was also 21st out of 36 in the 200 meters, with a time of 29.26 seconds.
Sophomore Lize Brown (New London, Conn.) took eighth place out of 28 athletes in the year's first javelin throw competition, with a top mark of 27.29 meters, thereby entering the program's all-time top-10 performance list in the event in ninth place. Brown passed Allyson Joseph from 2022 (26.14 meters) and Hillie Haber from 2007 (26.80).
Sophomore Tessa Lancaster (Mansfield, Mass.) placed sixth out of 23 runners in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 10:44.35. Lancaster jumped onto Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the event in fifth place, and less than a second behind fourth-place Elizabeth DeLeon's 10:43.45 from 2016.
Junior captain Bridget Hall (Arlington, Mass.) placed ninth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 11:09.21, also joining the top-10 list in the event along with Lancaster, in eighth place.
Sophomore Kim Beaver (Agawam, Mass.) and senior Devan Ravino (West Kingston, R.I.) placed a close seventh (5:12.20) and eighth (5:12.65), respectively, in a field of 39 runners in the 1,500 meters, as the top two finishers in their (second) heat.
Sophomore Erin Siegel (San Diego, Calif.) placed 12th in the hammer throw (27.69 meters) and 16th in the javelin (22.76 meters, or 74'8").
Sophomore Kara Setal (Naugatuck, Conn.) placed 15th in the hammer throw (26.44 meters) and 21st in the shot put (8.49 meters, or 27'10.25").
Sophomore Olivia Johnson (Mount Desert, Maine) and first-year Maya Evans (Topsfield, Mass.) placed 14th (11:56.93) and 16th (12:05.24), respectively, in the 3,000 meters.
Senior Lucy Sternberg (Stonington, Conn.) was 17th (14.13) in the 200 meters, while sophomore Cynthia Akanaga (Imo, Nigeria) finished 20th (14.63).