BALTIMORE, Md. – The 2016-17 season officially got underway for the Mount Holyoke College riding team on Saturday as the Lyons competed at the Preseason Tournament of Champions, hosted by Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. MHC sent 16 riders to fill two teams and four medal positions, which brought much success in the season opener.
The day began with intermediate flat, which saw senior Allee Platanitis take fourth place for team "Hello" with a lovely ride. Senior Bridget Finnerty was next in the ring for open fences, representing team "Adele". Despite a good ride, she finished just outside the ribbons. Junior Mika McKinney followed with a respectable ride in intermediate flat but also unfortunately finished out of the ribbons for team Adele.
In her IHSA debut, first year Franny Eremeeva put in a stunning round in open over fences to take the blue ribbon for team Hello. She returned to the ring for the following class to flat for the high medal, where she made the callback.
Action resumed for team Adele with an intermediate over fences ride from sophomore Emma Recchi, who put in a nice round for fourth place. The following classes saw Lexi Lobdell and Sarah Etzel, both first year students, make their IHSA debuts in the low medal flat class and walk trot canter class, respectively. Lobdell put in a lovely ride but unfortunately did not make the callback, while Etzel had a nice ride for third place for team Hello.
Senior Cam Carter was next in the ring to flat for the low medal. She had a very nice ride to make the callback. First year Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar took the reins next in her IHSA debut in intermediate over fences, where she had a very respectable ride but unfortunately was out of the ribbons. The final medal flat phase of the day saw junior Mollie Kowalchik, who had a solid ride to make the callback. Lobdell then returned to the ring for novice flat, where she rode to fourth for team Hello.
Sophomore Karen Dong, representing team Hello, entered the ring next for walk trot. She had a very respectable ride but finished out of the ribbons. Kowalchik then returned to the ring for open flat, where she had a stunning ride to take the blue ribbon for team Hello. Junior Cat Lamond followed to represent team Adele in walk trot canter with a nice ride to finish third, while first year Harriet Thomson made her IHSA debut in novice fences, taking fourth place with a lovely ride.
Junior Alexandra Friedman was next in the ring for walk trot to take second place. She was followed by junior Taryn Isenburg, who had a respectable ride in novice fences to finish out of the ribbons. Finnerty then returned to the ring for open flat, taking second with a lovely ride. Junior Sabrina Fox ended the day for team Adele riders with a solid novice flat ride for third place.
Carter returned to the ring to jump for the low medal, followed shortly after by Kowalchik and Eremeeva in the high medal. Carter finished in fifth while Kowalchik took fourth and Eremeeva received first place.
Mount Holyoke's team Hello finished the day in fourth place while team Adele finished in seventh. We look forward to the beginning of our regular season, which starts October 1st at Williams College.
Final team results:
SCAD Gold
Randolph College
Bridgewater College
Mount Holyoke 'Hello'
Goucher College
SCAD Black
Mount Holyoke 'Adele'
Liberty University
Show story courtesy of Taryn Isenburg, MHC Riding. Cover photo of Kowalchik (left), Eremeeva (middle) and Carter (right) courtesy of MHC Riding.
