NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - The Mount Holyoke College cross country team opened its 2017 season on Saturday, taking seventh overall at the Smith College Invitational. The Lyons posted a combined 177 points on the afternoon, earning seventh overall in the nine-team field. Amherst took this year's invitational title.

Junior Corrin Moss (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Alternative) paced the way for the Lyons on Saturday, finishing 20th overall with a time of 21:15.58 on the 5k course. In addition to crossing first among the Lyons runners, it marked her fastest time ever on the Smith course, besting her personal record by three seconds.

Sophomore Emma Raney (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) was the second Lyon to cross the finish line, marking a 21:53.71 to take 29th overall. Like Moss, it marked Raney's fastest-ever time at Smith, besting her own PR by over 12 seconds.

Mount Holyoke saw a great collegiate opening race from first year Simone Jacob (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University HS), who was 41st overall. She crossed the line in a time of 22:18.28, followed closely by sophomore Michelle Serrano (Los Angeles, Calif./West Adams Preparatory), who was 46th with a time of 22:32.22. Serrano was the third MHC runner to reach a PR milestone on the Smith course, besting her previous mark by over 34 seconds.

Sophomore Brigit Wolf (New Providence, N.J./Union County Magnet) placed 69th overall with a time of 23:39.95, while first year Olivia Wrobleski (Fall River, Mass./Bishop Stang) crossed the line in 24:16.64 - good for 78th. Junior Victoria Parrish (Pleasantville, N.Y./Buram Hills) rounded out the Lyons efforts on the afternoon with a time of 26:04.67, which was 87th overall.

As a team, the Lyons posed a nine-second improvement from last season's Smith Invitational, taking advantage of good surges and solid moves on the downhills to break away from the competition.

Mount Holyoke returns to action next Saturday when it travels to UMass-Dartmouth. Race time is set for 11:15am.