SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Mount Holyoke sophomore sensation Ioanna Tsoni had the best day yet in her collegiate career on Friday, the first day of the NEWMAC Track & Field Championships, breaking two of her own team records and grabbing the conference title in the long jump on her home track at Mount Holyoke.

Tsoni (Athens, Greece) had a top long jump of 5.75 meters, or 18 feet and 10.5 inches, to defeat runner-up and defending champion Kaylee Wright of Coast Guard by 0.31 meters for the NEWMAC title. Tsoni surpassed her own team record in the event, set earlier this season, by 3 centimeters. Her first-place finish marked the only event of the day not won by MIT, out of five finished events. 

Tsoni also smashed her own team record in the first-day trials of the 100 hurdles, finishing in 14.89 seconds to win her heat with the second-fastest time in the field. Tsoni's time cut her own team record, set just last week, by 0.54 seconds.

Junior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) took seventh place in the long jump at 5.06 meters (16'7.25"), to score two team points for the Lyons. Combining that with Tsoni's 10 points in the event, Mount Holyoke stands in fifth place among 10 teams, with most events being decided on Saturday.

Tsoni wins NEWMAC First Team All-Conference honors for her performance. She is Mount Holyoke's first NEWMAC champion since Hannah Rieders won the 10,000 meters at the 2019 championships.

Other highlights for the Lyons included:

• Junior Em Tetzlaff (Bath, Maine) qualified for the finals in the hammer throw and finished ninth overall with a career-best top mark of 37.17 meters (121'11"). Tetzlaff remains in eighth place on Mount Holyoke's all-time performance list in the event.
• First-year Molly Touch (Methuen, Mass.) had a personal-best mark of 29.39 meters (96'5") in the javelin, placing 14th out of 24 athletes.
• Junior Sarah West (Concord, N.H.) placed 12th in the 10,000 meters (41:56.68).

The meet resumes Saturday at 10:30am with the men's heptathlon 110 hurdles leading off the action.