RUTLAND, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College equestrian team placed second out of nine teams at the Worcester State Show Saturday at Holiday Acres, just two points behind UMass-Amherst, in the Lyons' first time as a Reserve Champion this season.

UMass-Amherst won the competition with 38 points, followed closely by Mount Holyoke (36), with Springfield (29), Amherst (21), Bentley (21) and WPI (21) rounding out the top six teams.

Award winners for Mount Holyoke at the end of the day included junior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) as Reserve High Point Rider, sophomore Megan Bliamptis (Lexington, Mass.) as Champion High Point Introductory Rider, junior Ririka Kakuta (Tokyo, Japan) as Reserve Champion Introductory Rider, and sophomore Lila Hancock (Morrisville, Vt.) as Reserve Champion Novice Rider.

The day began with Open Fences, where senior Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) took third place and junior Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) placed fifth. Mirarchi returned for Open Fences, winning third places.

Following were two classes of Intermediate Fences, where Bates finished fourth in the first and senior Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.) took fifth place in the second class. Following were three sections of Limit Fences. In the first, first-year Quinn Gilman (Honolulu, Hawaii) placed second while senior Chloe McElveen (Ridgeland, S.C.) took fifth. In the second section, first-year Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.) placed first, while sophomore Charlotte Subak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished sixth. In the third class, junior Madison Hurley (Portland, Maine) and first-year Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

After a schooling break, the show moved on to the flat portions, beginning with two classes of Intermediate Flat. In the first, Halloran placed third, and in the second, Bates came away with first place.

Next in the first of four classes of Limit Flat, Hurley and Cheng placed second and third in a strong class. McElveen took sixth place in the second class, and Subak placed sixth in the third class.

In Limit Fences, Gilman returned to place sixth. That was followed by two Introductory Flat classes: in the first, Kakuta and junior Zhuohan Shen placed first and fifth, respectively, and in the second, Bliamptis won with a fabulous ride.

Following were three sections of Pre-Novice Flat. Hancock won first place in the first class, followed by first-year Lainey Nibbio (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) taking second place in the second class. First-year Christine Niu (East Windsor, N.J.) took third place in the third section of Pre-Novice Flat.

The day finished with three Novice Flat classes. Junior Dekyi Deji (Beijing, China) took first place in the first class, while first-year Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) finished sixth. Junior True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) placed fourth in a strong second class, and in the third class, sophomore Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) placed third.

The Lyons will host their second Mount Holyoke Show on Saturday, Nov. 11 at the MHC Equestrian Center.

-- Reporting by Dekyi Deji