LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After top-five performances by junior Emmie Mirarchi and sophomore Cate Bates, the Mount Holyoke College hunter seat riding team stood in third place among 16 teams Thursday at the end of the first day of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships, held May 4-6 at Kentucky Horse Park.

Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) placed second out of 10 riders in Team Intermediate Equitation on the Flat, trailing only Sydney Jasny of Skidmore, to score eight points for the Lyons. Meanwhile Bates (Montclair, N.J.) finished fifth out of 10 riders in Team Limit Equitation on the Flat, scoring five more team points.

Action resumes on Friday with Mirarchi competing in Team Intermediate Fences; junior Lingdang Zhang (Chengdu, China) in Team Introductory Equitation; first-year Em Cantalupo (Candia, N.H.) in Team Novice Equitation; and junior Kerina Li (Guangzhou, China) in Individual Introductory Equitation.

2023 IHSA Nationals
Day 1 Team Standings
1. Emory and Henry (24)
2. Skidmore (23)
3. Mount Holyoke (13)
4. Long Island University Post (11)
5. Otterbein (10)
6. Sacred Heart (9)
6. Savannah College of Art & Design (9)
6. University of South Carolina (9)
9. Purdue (8)
10. University of Findlay (7)
11. Centenary University (5)
12. Goucher College (4)
12. University of Southern California (4)
14. Stanford (2.5)
15. University of Delaware (1)
16. University of Wisconsin (0)