Berlin, Mass. - March 27, 2022 - Fourteen individuals from the Mount Holyoke hunt seat team competed in the IHSA Zone I Region 3 Championship hosted at the Maplewood Farm by Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

The show started off with Open over Fences where senior captain Sara Hearn (Tallahassee, Fla.) had a lovely round to win her class.

Next in the ring was Intermediate over Fences, which saw strong rides from senior Kristina Lester (West Suffield, Conn.), junior Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.), and senior Tori Fletcher (Branford, Conn.). Fish and Fletcher were called back for additional testing. Following testing, Lester was announced the winner of the class, with Fish placing second and Fletcher finishing in third.

A large class of Limit over Fences followed in the ring, and saw junior Caroline Sullivan (Groton, Mass.) and senior Kristina Honour (Lake Forest, Ill.) deliver solid trips. Sullivan was called back for testing over a shortened course. Sullivan finished third and Honour finished fourth in a very competitive class.

A short schooling break followed. After schooling, Hearn returned to the ring for Open Flat, where she had an amazing ride to win her class.

Intermediate Flat was next in the ring where manager and senior Sierra Dunn (Florence, Mass.) returned to the ring to deliver a stunning ride for first place.

Two splits of Limit Flat entered the ring next, with the results announced after both sections ended. In the first split, senior Hannah Brown (Portland, Ore.) and Fish had stellar rides. The second split saw additional strong rides from Lester, junior Johanna Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.), and Fletcher. After both classes, Lester finished first, with Brown in third and Sullivan in fourth.

The Novice division followed with two splits, the first of which saw juniors Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.) and Rachel Banister (San Diego, Calif.) ride beautifully in their class. In the second section, juniors Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.), Daniela Fraser (Vero Beach, Fla.), and senior Yixuan He (Nanjing, China) delivered lovely rides. After the second section, Healey, Adolf, and Fraser were called back to the ring for additional testing. After seeing beautiful rides from all of them, Healey secured the blue ribbon, with Adolf finishing second, and Fraser finishing third.
 
The only rider who qualified for Regional finals in the Introductory division in Zone 1 Region 3 was junior Xike Zhao from Mount Holyoke. As the only rider in her class, Zhao did not have to compete but instead was awarded first place in her class by default.
 
At the end of the day, high point colleges and riders were presented. After a successful year in which they remained undefeated, the Mount Holyoke hunt seat team secured the overall High Point College title for the season with 365 points. They were followed by UMass Amherst with 300 points and Smith College with 197 points. Additionally, Hearn received the Cacchione Award and the Overall High Point Flat Rider Award, as well as the Overall high Point Over Fences Award.

Special congratulations to the following riders who secured a spot to compete at Zones on April 9th:

In addition to these riders, Mount Holyoke will see eight team riders competing in collegiate classes.

 

Up next, the Zone 1 Championship will be held on Saturday, April 9 at the Mount Holyoke College Equestrian Center. 

 

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