WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke cross country team opened the 2023 season well in a tri-meet against two of the top-ranked teams in the region on Friday evening, running competitively with Brandeis University and Wellesley College at the Wellesley Invitational.

Brandeis, ranked 23rd in Division III and third in the NCAA East Region, took first place with 33 points, just ahead of Wellesley (34), which is ranked seventh in the East Region. Mount Holyoke scored 56 points for third place.

Junior captain Tessa Lancaster (Mansfield, Mass.) finished third out of 21 runners in the race with a time of 19:20.6, trailing only Wellesley's top two runners and 7.8 seconds ahead of Brandeis's leading runner.

Senior captain Bridget Hall (Arlington, Mass.) placed 10th overall after a pack of Brandeis runners with a time of 20:10.4, followed by junior captain Bridget Hall (La Crosse, Wis.) in 11th place (20:23.9). Junior Kim Beaver (Agawam, Mass.) rounded out the team scoring in 15th and 17th places at 20:37.9 and 20:51.8, respectively. Sophomore newcomers to the team Katie Earle (East Kingston, N.H.) and Ava Frost (Hardwick, Mass.) were 18th (20:54.8) and 19th (20:58.6), respectively.

"Great start to the season today," said head coach Jay Hartshorn. "We had so many PRs and great starts by our new athletes. I can't wait to get back out there in two weeks."

Mount Holyoke competes at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational on Sept. 16 at 12pm.