WESTFIELD, Mass. (Oct. 6, 2012) - Led by a number of strong performances, the Mount Holyoke College cross country team finished 12th of 43 teams at the 2012 James Earley Invitational, hosted by Westfield State University. The Lyons were paced by first year Elizabeth DeLeon, who was 52nd overall in the 6k event.

DeLeon (Boise, Idaho/Timberline) posted a time of 24:14.17 in the race, which featured 453 runners. Finishing second on the team was sophomore Dana Fry (Avon, Conn./Miss Porter's School), who was 80th overall with a time of 24:51.86. Senior Julia Merton (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) finished 118th with a mark of 25:27.50, while classmate Phoebe Tengdin (Hanover, N.H./Hanover) had a time of 25:32.55 which was good for 124th.

Junior Lucia Garcia (Bakersfield, Calif./East Bakersfield) placed 141st with a time of 25:48.97, while sophomore Elizabeth Baker (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore Catholic School) was 186th with a time of 26:26.07. First year Hillary Detert (Brunswick, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) rounded out the team scoring field with a time of 26:34.51, which was 194th overall.

The Lyons had several other strong individual finishes on the afternoon as the entire squad competed in the race.

Middlebury College won this year's meet with a score of 28 points. Individually, Amherst's Keri Lambert was the top finisher with a time of 21:30.11.

Mount Holyoke returns to action next Saturday when it competes at the Seven Sisters Championship. The race, which will be hosted by Wellesley, begins at 10am.