AMHERST, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College Equestrian team earned high point college honors in their final regular season show on Sunday afternoon at the Sycamore Stables. The win also secured the regional victory for the Lyons, who won by a 63-point margin to advance to the Zone 1 finals. The top two teams from Zones will advance to Nationals.
The Lyons were in top form as senior Allison O'Neill and juniors Alexa Lohrer and Felicia Harrsch started the day off showing in Open Fences. Lohrer took home the first blue ribbon of the day for her round while Harrsch came in second and O'Neill in fourth.
In Intermediate Fences, Mount Holyoke went 1-2-3! Senior Morgan Cooley came in first followed by sophomore Madeline Shortt in second and sophomore Abby Raucher in third. Novice Fences continued MHC's strong showing with first year Genevieve Couldwell placing second and senior Isabelle McGovern receiving third.
The show then moved outside with Walk Trot Canter opening the flat series. Sophomore Kathleen Kelly took second in the event, while first year Heather Armstrong was fourth, senior Paulina Erni fifth, and junior Catherine Geeslin sixth.
Intermediate Flat proved very exciting as junior Flynn Vickowski won first place followed by senior Clara Tate in third and sophomore Maura Zaldonis in fourth. With their performances, both Vickowski and Zaldonis qualified for regionals in Intermediate Flat!
Mount Holyoke continued strong in Novice Flat with senior Jessica Law placing second, junior Emily Denisco and first year Tahlia Hodes both in third and first year Catherine Borgnis in sixth. In Walk Trot, the Lyons went 1-2 with sophomore Maneh Kotikian picking up the blue and sophomore Phyu-Sin Than in second. The day ended well with Open Flat where both Lohrer and Harrsch placed second in their respective sections. With her second place finish Harrsch qualified for regionals in Open Flat.
Adding to the excitement of Sunday's win was the announcement that Lohrer became the Cacchione Rider for Zone I, Region III. She will compete for the Cacchione Cup at Nationals in May. Lohrer was also named the Reserve High Point Rider at Sunday's show.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on March 30th when it competes at the Regional Championships, hosted by Smith College.
Photo of Lohrer courtesy of Frank Poulin Sports Photography. Purchase game photos at frankpoulin.smugmug.com
