Impressive 35 Riding Student-Athletes Garner IHSA National Academic Award; 22 Named to First Team

Photo courtesy of Arielle Lifton-Jochnowitz

Gladys, Va. - April 28, 2021 - Thirty five members of the Mount Holyoke College hunter seat riding team were recently recognized for their dedication to academics, as they were named to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National All-Academic Team as the 2020-21 academic year comes to a close.

Of the 35 hunter seat student-athletes honored, 22 were named to the First Team, while the other 13 earned Second Team recognition.

The purpose of the IHSA National All-Academic Award is to recognize the individual academic achievements of the participating undergraduate and alumni members each year. IHSA members will be named to the All-Academic First Team or All-Academic Second Team when they have been nominated by their coach, Advisor, or designated representative, and have met the following criteria: First Team – achieving a grade point average of 3.8 or higher (based on a 4.0 scale). Second Team – achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher (based on a 4.0 scale). For the 2020-21 academic year, participation in an IHSA competition is not necessary to be eligible for the All-Academic Awards.

Those that earned First Team honors for Mount Holyoke College include: Hannah Brown (Portland, Ore.), Sierra Dunn (Northampton, Mass.), Acadia Ferrero-Lampron (Denver, Colo.), Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.), Carly Ford (Glen Mills, Pa.), Carolena Galvin (San Francisco, Calif.), Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.), Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.), Kristina Honour (Lake Forest, Ill.), Catherine Kazel (Madison, N.J.), Kerina Li (Guangzhou, China), Arielle Lifton-Jochnowitz (Austin, Texas), Marina McDonald (Northampton, Mass.), Sinead O'Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.), Julia Pollard (Boston, Mass.), Beatriz Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.), Ashley Rosilez (Templeton, Calif.), Libby Sams (Atlanta, Ga.), Natalie Claire Sansom Botstein (Atlanta, Ga.), Avery Schoen (Belvedere Tiburon, Calif.), Caroline Sullivan (Groton, Mass.) and Lucy Zhen (Beijing, China).

Named to the Second Team for Mount Holyoke College was: Shemica Adenwalla (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), Abigail Candela (Maynard, Mass.), Shannon Feng (Beijing, China), Haluwa Jefwa (Northampton, Mass.), Kelly Li (Kunming, Yunnan, China), Kaitlin McFadden (Burton, Ohio), Emmalyn Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.), Sabrina Talir (Kirkwood, Mo.), Luhan Wang (Nanjing, China), Lauren Woznica (East Berlin, Conn.), Menghan Xiao (Beijing, China), Astrid Zhao (Williamsburg, Va.) and Xike Zhao (Shenyang, China).

Also included in the IHSA National All-Academic Award were the club western riders at Mount Holyoke College. Those student-athletes include Zoe Latham, Rachel Marks, Sofia O'Bryant, Emilia Palascak, Olivia Shields, Libby Spy, Sophie Thorson and Xiaohui Xu on the First Team, and Evelyn Bushway, Angela Chen, Isabelle Dow, Minxi Duan, Ayesha Khalid, Peyton Kim-LaTona, Tianshi Li, Azuna Sawada on the Second Team.