HARDEESVILLE, S.C. – The Mount Holyoke College riding team concluded the Tournament of Champions series in style on Saturday, as team 'Lyon Up' placed third overall at the Winter II event, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design at their facility in South Carolina. The event, which is a four-part series, saw the Lyons garner overall Reserve Champion honors.
Senior Maddy Skrak was the first rider in the ring of the entire show with a solid round to earn seventh place for team Lyon Up in Open Fences. Classmate Mollie Kowalchik competed next in the second section of Open Fences, putting in a good round for sixth place for team Cause & Effect. Senior Anna Rzchowski followed in Intermediate Fences with a beautiful ride to receive third place for team Cause & Effect, while first-year Sara Hearn posted a stunning round in Intermediate Fences to earn the first blue ribbon of the day for team Lyon Up.
Taking a break from the fences classes, Skrak entered the ring again in the first flat class of the day for the High Medal Flat Phase. She had a lovely ride and earned a call-back to the fences phase. Kowalchik followed in Open Flat and put in a solid ride for seventh place for team Cause & Effect. Senior Sabrina Fox was next in Intermediate Flat for team Lyon Up. She had a wonderful ride and received fifth place.
Sophomore Franny Eremeeva followed in the second section of Open Flat with a gorgeous ride to earn another blue for team Lyon Up. Rzchowski then entered the ring again, this time for Intermediate Flat where she had a great ride, earning a sixth place for team Cause & Effect. Next Eremeeva competed in the second split of the High Medal Flat Phase with an outstanding ride to earn a spot in the jumping phase.
After a schooling break, action returned to the over fences classes, with sophomore Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar putting forth an impressive round in Novice Fences to earn second place for team Cause & Effect. Fox followed in the second section of Novice Fences with a tactful round to earn seventh place for team Lyon Up.
Fox competed again in the next class, the Low Medal Flat Phase, and was joined by first-year teammate Libby Sams. They both had outstanding rides, earning them invites to the over fences portion of the class. Sophomore Sarah Etzel followed with a marvelous ride in Walk Trot Canter to receive second place for team Lyon Up. Hearn then entered the ring again, this time in Novice Flat, where she had a lovely ride, earning fourth place for team Lyon Up.
Next up was sophomore Honami Tanaka with a magnificent ride in Walk Trot to earn first place for team Lyon Up. Junior Jessica Feng then made her Tournament of Champions debut in the second section of Walk Trot, with an excellent ride to receive fifth place for team Cause & Effect. Rapinchuk-Souccar entered the ring again next in Novice Flat with a gorgeous ride to earn third place for team Cause & Effect. To finish the team competition, first-year Sinead O'Sullivan competed in the second split of Walk Trot Canter with a strong ride, receiving a third place for team Cause & Effect.
Moving on to the fences phases of the two medal classes, Fox and Sams competed first in the Low Medal. They both had fantastic rounds that earned them spots in the test of the top-four. Despite some slight confusion, they both had great tests. Sams ended up finishing fourth and Fox third in this competitive class. Next up in the High Medal, Skrak once again competed first, putting in a beautiful round to earn herself a call-back to test with the top four. Eremeeva also had a great fences round to finish seventh. After a solid test, Skrak finished third in this prestigious class.
In the end, Team Lyon Up finished in third place and Team Cause & Effect finished ninth.
Team Results:
1. Savannah College of Art and Design "BEE-Lieve" - 46
2. Savannah College of Art and Design "BEE-Strong" - 35
3. Mount Holyoke College "Lyon Up" - 31
4. Randolph College - 27
5. Miami University - 26
6. Emory and Henry College - 24
7. Ohio University - 23
8. University of Rhode Island "Rhody Rams" - 22
9. Mount Holyoke College "Cause & Effect" - 21
10. University of South Carolina - 21
The Lyons return to action on February 10 when they travel to the University of Rhode Island for an invitational.
