At right: from left to right, Kate Smith, Kristen Adolf, Emmie Mirarchi and Charlie May display their awards following the Mount Holyoke Show on Nov. 12, 2022.
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College riding team concluded an outstanding fall show season Saturday at its second home show, winning Reserve High Point College honors with a second-place finish behind UMass-Amherst.
UMass scored 39 points to Mount Holyoke's 37, interrupting the Lyons' streak of five show wins in a row. WPI placed third with 20 points, followed by Amherst (19), Worcester State (17), Smith College (12), and Williams College (10).
Junior Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) was named both Overall High Point Rider and Intermediate High Point Rider at the show, topping Mount Holyoke's four awardees on the day. Senior Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.) was called back to ride off for Overall Reserve High Point, and after a quiz bowl of IHSA rules was named the Limit High Point Rider for the day. The top placing riders in Introductory and Novice were also called to quiz bowl, resulting in first-year Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) being named Novice High Point Rider and first-year Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.) taking Reserve Novice High Point.
Three additional riders qualified to compete at the regional championships in April, with senior Azuna Sawada (introductory), sophomore Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.) (Limit Flat), and senior Acadia Ferrero-Lampron (Denver, Colo.) (Limit Fences) joining four teammates who had already qualified in junior Kerina Li (Guangzhou, China) (Introductory), junior Sunita Pearson-Siegel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) (Novice), Mirarchi (Limit Flat, Limit Fences), senior Caroline Sullivan (Groton, Mass.) (Limit Flat), and senior Johanna Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.) (Limit Fences).
Morning competition began with Open Fences, with beautiful rides from first-year Olivia Simon (Sacramento, Calif.), Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.), and Caroline Sullivan. Simon placed second, Fish third, and Sullivan finished just out of the ribbons.
Next were two sections of Intermediate Fences. In the first section, Mirarchi made a gorgeous trip over fences to finish first in her class. In the next section, Johanna Sullivan had a lovely ride in her Intermediate Fences debut, finishing fourth.
Limit Fences followed with three sections, the first of which saw Adolf and Pearson-Siegel deliver stunning rides over fences to finish second and third, respectively. In the next section, first-year Charlotte Subak (Brooklyn, N.Y.), senior Daniela Fraser (Vero Beach, Fla.), and Halloran each had strong rides. Subak placed third, Fraser sixth, and Halloran just out of the ribbons. The final section saw seniors Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.), Ferrero-Lampron, and Rachel Banister (San Diego, Calif.) deliver gorgeous trips to place fourth, fifth, and sixth.
After a short pause for schooling of flat horses, the ring moved on to Introductory as the first flat class of the day. Seniors Kelly Li (Kunming, China) and Azuna Sawada each had lovely rides, finishing second and third. Next in the ring were juniors Astrid Zhao (Beijing, China) and Alina Yuk (Northvale, N.J.) with solid rides to finish second and fourth respectively.
Johanna Sullivan then returned to the ring in the first section of Open Flat, delivering a stunning ride to a blue-ribbon finish. In the second section, Simon returned with a wonderful ride to finish fourth. A single section of Intermediate Flat followed in which Mirarchi, Caroline Sullivan, and Fish returned to finish first, fourth, and fifth respectively.
Two sections of Pre-Novice flat followed. In the first, Smith and sophomore Toni Dris (Fonda, N.Y.) each had gorgeous rides, finishing first and fourth. In the second section, seniors Alex Taylor (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Xike Zhao (Shenyang, China) both delivered outstanding rides to a one-two finish.
Next in the ring were four sections of Limit Flat. First, first-year Hallie Phillips (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and sophomore Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) both had beautiful rides to finish first and third in their class. Then, Pearson-Siegel and Halloran returned to the ring, putting in strong rides for another one-two finish. The third section saw Adolf return with a marvelous ride to place first in her class. Finally, Ferrero-Lampron returned with another impressive ride to finish second.
The day wrapped up with four sections of Novice Flat. In the first, May had a solid ride to finish first in their class. Next, senior Piper Kilgore (Deerfield, N.H.) had a strong ride to finish fourth in the second section. The third section saw first-year Nora Tripp (Westford, Mass.) with a beautiful ride to finish fourth in her class. Last but not least, first-year Josephine Nicholas (Cohasset, Mass.) entered the ring with an amazing ride to finish fourth.
At the end of the fall season, Mount Holyoke leads Region 3 with a total of 240 points. UMass-Amherst follows in second with 204 points, followed by Amherst College with 156 points, Worcester State with 119 points, WPI with 95 points, Smith College with 86 points, Springfield with 72 points, and Williams College with 66 points.
Mount Holyoke will send a team of riders to the Tournament of Champions at Virginia Tech on Dec. 3.
-- Reporting by Acadia Ferrero-Lampron '23
