SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College equestrian team opened the 2023 spring semester of competition by taking second place among eight teams and claiming Reserve High Point College honors at home Saturday at the MHC Equestrian Center. The show was moved from a UMass-Amherst hosted event to Mount Holyoke in a schedule change made last week.
Senior Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.) won Reserve High Point Limit Rider and qualified for the Zone 1 Regional Championships in both Limit Flat and Limit Fences, while senior Alex Taylor (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and junior Lingdang Zhang earned Novice High Point Rider and Introductory High Point Rider, respectively, to head Lyons' individual honors on the day.
The chilly morning started with Open Fences, where sophomore Helena Weiss (Clifton, N.J.), first-year Olivia Simon (Sacramento, Calif.), and senior Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.) each had beautiful courses to secure fourth, fifth, and sixth places, respectively. Next up was sophomore Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) in the only section of Intermediate Fences, where she made a gorgeous trip over fences to finish fifth in her class.
Two sections of Limit Fences followed. In the first, seniors Daniela Fraser (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.) both delivered stunning rides over fences to finish fourth and sixth, respectively. In the second section, Adolf, senior Rachel Banister (San Diego, Calif.), and sophomore Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J>) each had strong rides, with Adolf finishing second, Banister fourth, and Bates just out of the ribbons. In the final over fences class, alum Maya Brody had a beautiful ride to finish fourth.
After a short pause for schooling horses, the ring moved on to the flat portion of the day, beginning with Introductory. Juniors Zhang, Blair Yuk (Northvale, N.J.), and Alina Yuk (Northvale, N.J.) all put forward lovely rides to finish first, third, and fourth, respectively. Junior Valerie Tian (Kunming, China), making her IHSA debut, delivered a stunning ride, but finished just out of the ribbons.
The ring moved on to Open Flat, where senior Johanna Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.) and Weiss both had wonderful rides and finished second and third respectively. In Alumni Flat, Brody returned to finish sixth with a very solid ride.
Limit Flat followed with three sections. In the first, senior Acadia Ferrero-Lampron (Denver, Colo.) had a stunning ride to a blue-ribbon finish. The second section saw Adolf and Cheng return with impressive rides to finish second and fourth, respectively. Finally, Healey returned to the ring with a beautiful ride to earn another blue ribbon for MHC.
Next in the ring was one section of Intermediate Flat. Junior Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.), in her Intermediate Flat debut, put down a gorgeous ride to finish second, and Fish returned with another solid ride to finish fourth in her class.
The day wrapped up with one section of Pre-Novice and three sections of Novice flat classes. In the Pre-Novice section, seniors Taylor and Azuna Sawada (Tokyo, Japan) both had strong rides to a one-two finish, with Taylor pointing out of the division and Sawada in her Pre-Novice debut. In the first section of Novice, junior Elliott Candela (Maynard, Mass.) had a wonderful ride to finish third in his class. Next, first-year Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) and senior Xike Zhao (Shenyang, China) both had lovely rides, finishing second and fourth in their class. Finally, sophomores True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and Mara Downie (Westfield, Mass.) finished up the day with stunning rides, finishing second and fourth respectively.
At the end of the day, Adolf was named Reserve High Point Limit Rider. The top placing riders in Introductory and Novice were also called to quiz bowl, resulting in Taylor being named Novice High Point Rider and Zhang being named Introductory High Point Rider.
Overall, MHC finished the day with 27 points, earning the Reserve High Point College title.
Final Team Results:
1. UMass Amherst (47)
2. Mount Holyoke (27)
3. Amherst (17)
4t. Springfield (14)
4t. Worcester State (14)
6. WPI (9)
7. Williams (4)
8. Smith (3)
-- Reporting by Acadia Ferrero-Lampron '23
