LONG VALLEY, N.J. – The Mount Holyoke College riding team was in action for the final time this semester, competing in the 24th annual Holiday Tournament of Champions, hosted by Centenary College. The Lyons, which had two teams in action at the event, saw Team J finish fifth overall. MHC's Team C was 10th overall.
The open equitation division started the day off with an all-out showdown over fences. Junior captain Bridget Finnerty placed fifth and sophomore Mollie Kowalchik placed eighth in a very competitive class, both with very nice rides. Intermediate fences saw sophomore Maddy Skrak post a solid ride for second overall, while in the next section, first year Julia Robinson had a beautiful ride for third place.
The Holiday tournament medal phases began with MHC riders Allee Platanitis, Grace Tice, Kowalchik and Finnerty all taking part. This class was very competitive and everyone had beautiful rides under saddle. After the three sections were completed, both Kowalchik and Finnerty were invited back for the over fences phase. Finnerty had a wonderful horse to come in fourth and Kowalchik showed off her class and horsemanship on a difficult draw to come in reserve.
The excitement continued with Novice fences where sophomore Anna Rzchowski had a great ride into fourth place and in the following section first year Daisy Sears received eighth place on a difficult draw.
First up in the flat classes was Tice, who rode beautifully and received fifth in the first open section. Then sophomore Mika McKinney showed off her skills under saddle to receive second place. Following that was the first section of intermediate on the flat where senior Genevieve Couldwell rode stunningly into third.
This cycle continued with another section of open flat where Finnerty had a solid ride to receive sixth overall. In novice on the flat sophomore Sabrina Fox rose to the challenge in a competitive class to ride into sixth place as well. In the final intermediate flat section Kowalchik received eighth place in a competitive class.
Walk Trot and Walk Trot Canter classes wrapped-up the day. Sophomore Illiana Termuehlen showed her grit and horsemanship to lay down a beautiful flat class and receive third on a re-ride after her previous horse did not want to cooperate any longer. Senior Stephanie Lewis also got the yellow third place ribbon after showing her control over a spirited draw. To wrap things up, first years Cat Lamond and Sierra Thomas had beautiful rides in Walk Trot Canter to get a pair of second place ribbons.
The Lyons are now idle until January 23rd when they compete at the Winter Tournament of Champions I, hosted in Fredricksburg, Va.
The final team results are as follows:
Centenary Team A - 46
Centenary Team B - 43
SCAD - 42
Penn State Blue - 28
MHC Team J - 28
Randolph - 27
Delaware Valley - 24
Goucher - 23
Show release courtesy of MHC's Bridget Finnerty '17. Photo courtesy of MHC Riding.
