Riding Victorious at First Fall Home Show

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – It was a successful opening to the home slate for the Mount Holyoke College riding team, as they compiled 45 points to secure high point college honors at Saturday's first fall home show at the MHC Equestrian Center.

The day started with Open Fences as seniors Emma Recchi and Rachael Fulop each took center stage. Recchi delivered a beautiful ride for a blue ribbon, while Fulop posted reserve.

Two classes of Intermediate Fences followed and the first section saw junior Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar and sophomore Sara Hearn both had great rides to finish one-two. The second section saw seniors Lily DeBenedictis and Daisy Sears make lovely trips for fourth and reserve, respectively.

Novice Fences wrapped up the jumping classes of the day with four sections. First year Kristina Lester and senior Tess Ahlers opened the division with beautiful rides to post first and sixth, respectively. In the second section, first years Piper Lacy and Sierra Dunn also put in stunning rides for a one-two finish.

Junior Katerina Alvarez and first year Isabelle Dow followed the ring to have strong rides for third and fourth, respectively. In the final section, first year Faith Wang and senior Jordan Green had lovely trips to finish in second and third.

Open Flat opened the afternoon section of the show as Recchi and Sears rode solid in a competitive class to take second and reserve, respectively.

The ring next saw half of the Novice Flat sections. In the first section, Dunn and Green returned to the ring to deliver wonderful rides for another one-two. Dow put in a lovely ride for fourth in the second section.

Intermediate Flat broke up the large novice division with two sections, the first of which saw a strong ride from Rapinchuk-Souccar for another blue. DeBenedictis returned to the ring for the second section of Intermediate Flat, delivering a solid ride to finish in third.

The ring then returned to the final two sections of Novice Flat. Lacy and Ahlers had stunning rides for third and fifth, respectively. In the final section of Novice Flat, Hearn and Fulop rode outstanding, securing first and second, respectively.

Three sections of Beginner Walk-Trot-Canter were next in the ring. In the first section, junior Honami Tanaka rode well for second, while first year Hannah Brown had a strong ride for first place.

Mount Holyoke saw three classes of Walk-Trot. Sophomore Charcy Fan and junior Daphne Schneewind were the first in the ring. They both had beautiful rides to finish one-two. The second section saw another strong ride from sophomore Christine Xiao to win the class. In the last section, sophomore Yixuan He put in a lovely ride, securing first place.

MHC wrapped up with three sections of Walk-Trot-Canter to conclude the classes. Sophomores Nora Cyra and Haluwa Jefwa entered the ring first and rode beautifully, finishing in first and second, respectively. In the second section, first year Genevieve Franck and junior Abby Watkins had stellar rides for fourth and fifth. This show marked Genevieve's IHSA debut. The final class of the day saw lovely rides from sophomore Sabrina Talir and junior Maya Brody to secure first and second, respectively.

At the end of the day, Recchi, Hearn, and Dunn were called back for a ride off for overall Reserve High Point Rider. After demonstrating a series of tests on the flat, Hearn was named Reserve High Point Rider.

With two blue ribbons, Rapinchuk-Souccar was named overall High Point Rider as well as High Point Intermediate Rider. Additionally, Dunn was named Reserve Novice High Point Rider, after demonstrating her knowledge in a quizbowl.

Mount Holyoke finished the day with 45 points to secure the High Point College award. UMass Amherst followed with 30 points.

Congratulations to the following riders for qualifying for regionals today:

Abby Watkins - Walk-Trot-Canter

Rachael Fulop - Novice Flat

Sara Hearn - Intermediate Fences

Overall Team Results:

Mount Holyoke - 45 points

UMass Amherst - 30 points

Springfield College - 28 points

Smith College - 24 points

Worcester State University - 19 points

Westfield State University - 15 points