Amherst, Mass. - November 3, 2019 - The Mount Holyoke College riding team competed at the Amherst College Horse Show at Muddy Brook Farm in Amherst, Mass. on Saturday, and the Lyons earned the Reserve High Point College title among nine teams competing. On the afternoon, Mount Holyoke College produced 41 points.

UMass Amherst just edged Mount Holyoke College with 42 points, while Amherst College was third with a total of 26 points. Worcester State (22) and Smith College (18) rounded out the top five.

The day started with a pair of impressive performances from Sara Hearn (Tallahassee, Fla.) and Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar (Cummington, Mass.), as Hearn took first overall in Open over Fences, while Rapinchuk-Souccar followed with a second-place finish. Next was two sections of Intermediate Fences. In the first section, first-year Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.) made a gorgeous trip over the fences, resulting in a sixth-place finish. In the next section, senior Emy McLaughlin (Portland, Maine) finished second overall following a stunning ride, before Libby Sams (Atlanta, Ga.) took fifth. 

Four sections of Limit Fences followed, the first of which saw seniors Maya Brody (Weatogue, Mass.) and Sarah Etzel (Northampton, Mass.), who had lovely rides to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. In the next section, junior Sierra Dunn (Northampton, Mass.) and Sarah Luiz (Santa Fe, N.M.) had a pair of strong rides, as Dunn took first and was followed by Luiz's fifth-place result. First-year Marina McDonald (Northampton, Mass.) and sophomore Faith Wang (Southwick, Mass.) were next in the ring for the Lyons, as McDonald placed second and was followed by Wang, who took fifth. Wrapping up Limit Fences was Kristina Lester (West Suffield, Conn.) and Kristina Honour (Lake Forest, Ill.), as Lester took second overall and Honour finished fourth.

After a short break for schooling, the ring moved on to the flat section of the day. Hearn and Rapinchuk-Souccar returned to the ring and Hearn nothced a second-place finish, while Rapinchuk-Souccar was just behind her in third in the Open Flat.

Intermediate Flat saw a great ride from Katerina Alvarez (Miami, Fla.), who just fell short of the ribbons, before McLaughlin returned to the ring and secured another blue ribbon for Mount Holyoke College. 

Another four sections of Limit Flat followed, and in the first section, Luiz posted a third-place finish, while in the next section, Honour also posted third with a strong ride. Wang returned to the ring with Tori Fletcher (Branford, Conn.) in the third section, as Wang took first overall and was followed by Fletcher's second-place finish. The final section saw Dunn and McDonald take first and second overall respectively after two more great rides.

The show then moved on to Introductory with two splits. Junior Luhan Wang (Nanjing, China) entered the ring first and took second overall, before Dorothy Wang (Jinan, China) came in next and took second overall.

Next was three sections of Novice, first of which saw first-year Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.) have a wonderful ride to secure a blue ribbon. Next, Carol Law (Belchertown, Mass.) and first-year Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.) finished third and fifth, respectively. In the final section, senior Honami Tanaka (Fukuoka City, Japan) and Anya Benson (Amherst, Mass.) delivered solid rides, as Tanaka took first overall and Benson took second. 

Wrapping up the day was Pre-Novice, where senior Hanye Chen (Dachang, China) and junior Yixuan He (Nanjing, China) put forth strong efforts, as He finished second overall while Chen fell just short of the ribbons. 

At the end of the day, Hearn and McLaughlin were called back to the ring for additional testing for the Reserve High Point Rider tie-breaker. After a series of testing, Hearn was announced as the overall Reserve High Point Rider. 

Dunn earned the overall High Point Rider and Limit High Point Rider titles of the day, while McDonald was named Reserve Limit High Point Rider. Additionally, McLaughlin was named High Point Intermediate Rider of the Day.

Up next, Mount Holyoke College will return to competition on Sunday, November 10 when they travel to Hadley Farm in Hadley, Mass. for a show that will be hosted by UMass Amherst. The show is expected to start at 9 a.m.

For the latest updates on Mount Holyoke College Athletics, follow the Lyons on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.