AMHERST, Mass. -- Competing in its second show in as many days, the Mount Holyoke College equestrian team took third place among eight teams at the UMass-Amherst Show held Sunday at Muddy Brook Farm.
Highlights of the day for the Lyons included first-year Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.) winning High Point Limit Rider honors, first-year Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) taking High Point Novice honors, and senior Lingdang Zhang (Chengdu, China) winning Reserve High Point Introductory laurels. Three riders qualified for the regional championships this spring: Zhang for Introductory Flat, sophomore Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) for Novice Flat, and senior Chloe McElveen (Ridgeland, S.C.) for Limit Fences.
Starting the day off were two sections of Open Fences classes. In the first section, sophomore Olivia Simon (Sacramento, Calif.) took third place, and in the second, senior Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) placed second. In two Intermediate Fences classes, junior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) and senior Sunita Pearson-Siegel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) in her Intermediate debut, placed fifth and sixth, respectively. In the second section, senior Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.) took third place.
The show then moved on to three sections of Limit Fences. In the first section, Bitler claimed the blue ribbon. In the second section, first-year Montserrat Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.) took fourth place. In the third section, McElveen and first-year Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) placed first and fourth, respectively.
Flat Classes
In the first of two Introductory Flat classes, junior Eimi Fujioka (Toda-shi, Japan) and sophomore Megan Bliamptis (Lexington, Mass. claimed third and fourth places. Then in the second section, Zhang and junior Zhiying Li (Guangdong, China), in her IHSA debut, brought home first and second places, respectively.
In the first of two Novice Flat classes, sophomores May and Josephine Nicholas (Cohasset, Mass.) took fourth and fifth places. In the second class, were Neumuth and first-year Lainey Nibbio (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), in her Novice Flat debut, placed first and third in a strong class. Next were Simon in the first section and Mirarchi in the second section of the Open Flat class, with both earning third place.
In the first of four Limit Flat classes, Hartwig took third place. In the second section, Mutz placed sixth. In the third Limit Flat class of the day, Bitler returned to the ring with a wonderful ride, placing third in a strong class. In the last Limit Flat class of the day, McElveen placed sixth.
Next came two Intermediate Flat classes. In the first class, junior Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) and Halloran came back to the show ring, and delivered amazing rides, placing first and second respectively. In the second class, Pearson-Siegel came back to the ring and lay down a lovely ride, securing the blue ribbon.
Last came two sections of the Pre-Novice Flat classes. Sophomore Victoria Schubarg (Dobson, N.C.), making her IHSA debut, and first-year Savannah Ma (Garden City, N.Y.) rode beautifully and placed second and third in their class. In the last class of the day, first-year Sabella Riccio (Jersey City, N.J.) went into the show ring with an amazing ride, bringing home first place.
The season continues Sunday, March 10 with another UMass-Amherst Show, taking place at Hadley Farm in Hadley, Mass.
Final Team Results:
1. UMass-Amherst (39)
2. Bentley (31)
3. Mount Holyoke (30)
4. Worcester State (26)
5. Springfield (16)
6. WPI (12)
7. Smith (10)
8. Amherst (8)
-- Reporting by Dekyi Deji
