Riding Wins High Point College Title at Mount Holyoke Show

South Hadley, Mass. - October 30, 2021 - On Saturday, the Mount Holyoke Hunt Seat team hosted their first show of the season at the MHC Equestrian Center and the Lyons accumulated 47 points on the day en route to securing the High Point College Title in the nine-team field.

After some sessions of schooling, the day opened with the national anthem, while Assistant Coach Morgan Lynch rode Viktor while wearing an inflatable unicorn costume. The first class of the day was Open Fences. Our captain, Sara Hearn (Tallahasee, Fla.), had a beautiful ride to earn first place.

Two sections of Intermediate Fences followed in the ring. In the first section, Chloe Truett (Owensboro, Ky.), Tori Fletcher (Branford, Conn.), and Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) all had great rides for second, fifth, and sixth, respectively. The second section saw Kristina Lester (West Suffield, Conn.), manager Sierra Dunn (Florence, Mass.), and Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.) make lovely trips to finish one-two-three, and sweep the class.

Limit Fences wrapped up the jumping classes of the day with four sections. Sophomores Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) and Brenna Donovan (Andover, Mass.) opened the division with beautiful rides for a one-two finish. In the second section, Hannah Brown (Portland, Ore.) and Madigan Stichter (Easton, Conn.) also put in stunning rides to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Johanna Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.) and Kristina Honour (Lake Forest, Ill.) followed in the ring with strong rides. Sullivan placed sixth, and Honour finished just outside of the ribbons. In the final section, juniors Caroline Sullivan (Groton, Mass.) and Shemica Adenwalla (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) had lovely trips to finish in first and fourth.

Next in the ring were alumni classes. In Alumni Fences, Mount Holyoke alumnae Emma Recchi '19 and Maya Brody '20 had beautiful trips to finish first and third, respectively. After the flat horses were schooled, riders returned to the ring for flat classes. First up, Recchi and Brody entered the ring again for Alumni Flat, where they had stunning rides to finish first and third.

Open flat was next in the ring, with Hearn returning with a lovely ride to win her class. The ring next saw two of the five Limit Flat sections. In the first section, Brown and Caroline Sullivan returned to the ring to deliver wonderful rides to finish first and third. Mirarchi and Fletcher put in beautiful rides to place first and sixth in the second section.

Intermediate Flat broke up the large limit division with two sections, the first of which saw Honour and Dunn return to the ring, delivering rides to finish in fourth and sixth, respectively. In the second section of Intermediate Flat, Lester returned to the ring with a strong ride for another blue.

The ring then returned to the final three sections of Limit Flat. Donovan entered the ring again with a stunning ride to place fourth. In the second to last section, Fish and Johanna Sullivan returned to the ring with lovely rides, to place first and sixth. In the final section of Limit Flat, Truett rode nicely to win her class.

Mount Holyoke saw three classes of Introductory. Francis Perkins Scholar and final semester senior Hope Coss (Shoreline, Wash.) and Blair Yuk (Northvale, N.J.) were the first in the ring. They both had beautiful rides to finish one-two. The second section saw another strong ride from Shannon Feng (Beijing, China) to place second. In the last section, Annastazia Zhang (Bradenton, Fla.) put in a lovely ride, securing first place in her IHSA debut.

Three sections of Novice were next in the ring. In the first section, Sunita Pearson-Siegel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Chloe McElveen (Ridgeland, S.C.) rode well to finish second and third. Madison Hurley (Portland, Maine) and Abby Candela (Maynard, Mass.) went next, having strong rides for second place and fifth place, respectively. In the final section of Novice, Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.) had a lovely ride to win her class.

MHC wrapped up with three sections of Pre-Novice. Piper Kilgore (Deerfield, N.H.) entered the ring and rode beautifully, winning her class in her IHSA debut.

At the end of the day, Hearn, Lester and Mirarchi were called back for a ride off for overall High Point Rider. After demonstrating a series of tests on the flat, Hearn was named High Point Rider, and Lester was named Reserve High Point Rider. Lester was also named Intermediate High Point Rider, and Mirarchi was named Limit High Point Rider.

Mount Holyoke finished the day with 47 points to secure the High Point College award. UMass Amherst and Worcester State University followed, tying for Reserve High Point College with 29 points each.

Congratulations to the Kristin Adolf for qualifying for regionals yesterday.

The regular season will continue next Saturday, November 6 at Grindstone Mountain Farm in Southampton, Mass., hosted by Westfield State University and Amherst College.

Overall Team Results: