Track and field takes a close second place in thrilling tri-meet at Smith

Aria Mallare won the high jump with a career-best mark of 1.51 meters at the Mount Holyoke-Smith-Wellesley Tri-Meet on Feb. 17, 2024 at Smith College. (RJB Sports file photo)

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- An exciting win in the distance medley relay, the final race of the Mount Holyoke-Smith-Wellesley Tri-Meet, lifted Mount Holyoke into second place among the three teams, with only two points separating first place from third, on Saturday at Smith College.

Mount Holyoke finished with 56 points, half a point behind Wellesley (56.5), with Smith a very close third (54.5).

Mount Holyoke won the DMR in 12:50.34, with junior Tessa Lancaster (Mansfield, Mass.) sealing the win with a 5:12.56 split in the anchor 1600-meter leg of the race. Junior Greta Trapp (La Crosse, Wis.) led off with a 4:03.24 1200-meter leg, followed by junior Olivia Johnson (Mount Desert, Maine) with a 1:08.77 400-meter leg, junior Kim Beaver (Agawam, Mass.) with a 2:25.74 800-meter leg, and Lancaster.

Other highlights and top-three performances by Mount Holyoke included:

Junior Aria Mallare (Chicago, Ill.) won the high jump in a career-best 1.51 meters, moving past Charleen Theroux (2017) from sixth to fifth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the event.
First-year Ioanna Tsoni (Athens, Greece) captured first place in four events and second place in a fifth event. Tsoni won the 60 meters (8.12 seconds), the 200 meters (26.84), the 60 hurdles (9.34), and the triple jump (10.65 meters), and was second in the long jump (5.04 meters). Tsoni moved from third place to second on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the 60 meters, trailing only Camille Coklow's record 7.62. She also leapfrogged Charleen Theroux to move from fifth to fourth place on Mount Holyoke's top-10 list in the triple jump.
Beaver took second place in the 800 meters in a personal-best time of 2:23.45, moving up from eighth to fifth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list, and passing Sunny Shan (2016) and Rebecca Rogers (2015).
Lancaster finished third in the mile in a blistering 5:12.70, beating her previous best in the event by 7.05 seconds. That moved Lancaster from sixth place to third on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list, passing Rebecca Rogers (2015), Sunny Shan (2016), and Simone Jacob (2020).
Sophomore Em Tetzlaff (Bath, Maine) took second place in the weight throw (10.75 meters) and third in the shot put (8.44 meters), moving into 10th place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the weight throw.
Sophomore Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) placed second in the triple jump (10.61 meters) and third in the long jump (4.94 meters).
Junior Erin Siegel (San Diego, Calif.) placed third in the weight throw with a personal-record 10.74 meters.
Trapp finished third in the 1000 meters in 3:10.62.

Mount Holyoke will next compete in the New England Division III Indoor Championships, taking place Sunday Feb. 25 at The Track at New Balance in Boston.