AMHERST, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College equestrian team remained unbeaten in the young season with a first-place performance out of 10 teams at the UMass-Amherst Show of Saturday, Oct. 21 at Muddy Brook Farm.
The Lyons scored 34 points in the competition to edge host UMass (32) by two.
A trio of Mount Holyoke riders earned awards at the end of the day: senior Catherine Kazel (Madison, N.J.) was Introductory High Point Champion, junior Madison Hurley (Portland, Maine) won the Reserve High Point Limit Award, and junior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) was named Intermediate High Point Rider.
Starting off the day, Mount Holyoke had our three Open Fences riders: senior captain Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.), junior Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.), and junior Helena Weiss (Clifton, N.J.). They delivered three fantastic rounds of rides and brought home third, first, and sixth place, respectively.
In the next class sophomore Hallie Phillips (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had a great ride in the first section of Intermediate Fences, placing sixth place. In the second Intermediate Fences class, Bates placed fourth.
Mount Holyoke had three Limit Fences classes. In the first section, senior Chloe McElveen (Ridgeland, S.C.), sophomore Charlotte Subak (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and first-year Quinn Gilman (Honolulu, Hawaii) making her IHSA debut. All of them had a stunning ride, with McElveen placing fourth, Gilman placing fifth, and Subak placing just out of the classes. In the second section, first-year Montse Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Hurley entered the ring, with Hurley making their over fences debut. After incredible rides, Hurley placed third and Hartwig fifth. In the final Limit Fences section, first-year Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) and senior Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.) placed fifth and second, respectively.
After the flat schooling, the show moved on to the flat sections, and two Open Flat classes. Mirarchi and Weiss came back to the show ring, and each took first place.
In the Pre-Novice Flat first section was sophomore Lila Hancock (Morrisville, Vt.) in her IHSA debut, and she placed fourth in a strong class. In the second section, senior Astrid Zhao (Williamsburg, Va.) delivered an amazing ride to place third.
Next came two sections of Limit Flat. Hurley and Cheng returned with terrific rides, placing first and third respectively. In the second section, McElveen placed sixth.
In Intermediate Flat, Bates and Halloran placed second and third in a strong class.
Next came two classes of Introductory Flat. In the first, Kazel and junior Artemis Chen (Suzhou, China) brought home first and third places, respectively. In the second class were junior Amy Fujioka (Tokyo, Japan) and sophomore Megan Bliamptis (Lexington, Mass.); Fujioka was first, and Bliamptis took third.
After that the show returned to the Limit Flat classes. In the third Limit Flat class, Subak came back to the ring with a beautiful ride, placing third. Then in the fourth class, Gliman placed second with a strong ride. In n the fifth Limit Flat class, Mutz placed third.
The last section of the day entailed three Novice Flat classes. In the first class, junior Dekyi Deji and first-year Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) had great rides, placing third and second respectively. In the second class, junior Mara Downie (Holyoke, Mass.) placed fifth. Finally, junior True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) entered the ring with a marvellous ride and placed third in her class.
At the end of the day after a series of quizlet bowl tests, Bates won home the High Point Intermediate, Kazel brought home the High Point Introductory, and Hurley took the Reserve Limit High Point.
Team Standings:
1. Mount Holyoke College - 34 points
2. University of Massachusetts - 32 points
3. Springfield College - 23 points
4. Bentley University - 22 points
5. Worcester State University - 20 points
6. Smith College - 17 points
7. Worcester Polytechnic Institute - 12 points
8. Amherst College - 9 points
9. Williams College - 5 points
10. Bennington College - 2 points
