HADLEY, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College riding team headed to Hadley Farm on Saturday, posting victory at the UMass IHSA Show. The Lyons posted 37 points on the day, highlighted by overall high point and novice high point rider honors for first year Harriet Thomson.
The competition day began with open fences as Bridget Finnerty was the first to ride for MHC, putting in a nice trip for a second place finish. Franny Eremeeva followed shortly after with another nice ride for fourth.
In the first section of intermediate fences, both Allee Platanitis and Cam Carter had lovely rounds to finish first and second, respectively. The second section saw Emma Recchi with another good ride for first place.
Novice fences began with a solid round from Harriet Thomson, who secured the blue ribbon in the first section. The second section saw lovely rounds from both Sabrina Fox and Katerina Alvarez to finish first and fifth, respectively. This marked Fox's first time over fences in the IHSA and Alvarez's IHSA debut.
After a brief break MHC moved into the second half of the day with open flat, which saw Finnerty, Carter, and Eremeeva all return to the ring as Finnerty and Eremeeva posted first and second, respectively. Carter finished just out of the ribbons.
A large intermediate flat class was next in the ring as Mollie Kowalchik and Daisy Sears both rode well in the competitive class to finish fourth and just out of the ribbons, respectively.
Two sections of novice flat were in the ring next. In the first section, Taryn Isenburg and Fox had lovely rides to finish first and just out of the ribbons, respectively. The second section saw another nice ride from Thomson for a first place finish.
Beginner walk trot canter followed with rides from Madeline Ketley and Morgan Remillard, who were first and fifth. It also marked Remillard's IHSA debut. Sarah Etzel was next in the ring for a large advanced walk trot canter class, where she had a very nice ride to finish first.
In Mount Holyoke's final class of the day, walk trot, Karen Dong had a very respectable ride on a tough draw for a sixth place finish.
With her two blue ribbons rides, Thomson was the overall high point and novice high point rider awards. With a first and second place finish, Finnerty secured the reserve high point rider title.
Mount Holyoke finished the day with 37 points to be named high point college. Smith College followed with 31 points to receive the reserve high point college title.
Team Results:
Mount Holyoke College- 37
Smith College- 31
UMass Amherst- 21
Williams College- 19
Westfield State- 14
Bennington College- 13
Amherst College- 6
Springfield College- 4
The Lyons return to action next Saturday, hosting the first of their two fall home shows at the MHC Equestrian Center.
Show release courtesy of Taryn Isenburg, MHC rider & manager. Photo courtesy of MHC Riding.
