Lyons dominate Regionals as Mirarchi sweeps year-end awards

The IHSA Zone I Region 3 Championship ended with Mount Holyoke being awarded High Point College honors and eight riders advancing to Zone I Championships in Berlin, Mass., on March 30, 2024.

BERLIN, Mass. -- Ten student-athletes from the Mount Holyoke Equestrian team competed in the IHSA Zone I Region 3 Championship on Saturday at Maplewood Farm, a day which concluded with the Lyons receiving the High Point College award for the season and senior Emmie Mirarchi winning Region III High Point Rider honors.

Eight of the Lyons' 10 riders that qualified for Regionals qualiied for the Zone I Championship Show, taking place next Saturday, April 6 at the MHC Equestrian Center. The Lyons claimed eight o fthe 16 available spots for the zone championships.

Mount Holyoke finished the show season placing first in the region with 367 points in total, qualifying to compete in the Zone I Equitation Finals against four other championship Teams in New England to try to earn one of the two top spots to qualify for the 2024 IHSA Nationals.

Senior Emmie Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.) swept the High Point Flat, High Point Fences and Overall Rider of the Year honors for the Region, while junior Helena Weiss (Clifton, N.J.) won Reserve High Point Overall Rider Title of the year. Additionally, Mirarchi will ride in the Cacchione High Point Rider Class at Zone I Equitation Finals against the top Open riders from each of the five regions in Zone I, vying for one of the top three spots to compete in the Cacchione Class at the 2024 IHSA National Horse Show.

The show started with Open Over Fences. Mirarchi (Harvard, Mass.), the team captain, entered the ring with a gorgeous ride, placing first in the class. Following with the Intermediate Fences, junior Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) put down a beautiful ride to take first place.

Following was a large class of Limit Over Fences. Four Lyon riders -- seniors Chloe McElveen (Ridgeland, S.C.), senior Hayley Halloran (Lewes, Del.), senior Sunita Pearson-Siegel (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and junior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) -- went into the show ring with stunning rides. McElveen and Pearson-Siegel were called back for additional testing. In the end, Halloran placed first, Pearson-Siegel placed second, McElveen took third, and Bates was placed just out of the ribbons in a competitive class.

After a short schooling break, the show went on to the flat classes. Mirarchi came back to the arena in Open Flat with a great ride, placing fifth. Following Intermediate Flat, in which Mount Holyoke had no qualifying riders, the show moved on to three classes of Limit Flat. McElveen returned to the first class, Bates and Cheng returned to the second class, and Pearson-Siegel came back to the third class. After all three classes, McElveen, Bates, and Pearson-Siegel were called back for additional testing. After their impressive rides, Bates finished in first place, McElveen in second, and Pearson-Siegel in fourth.

That was followed by two Novice Flat classes. Senior Elliott Candela (Maynard, Mass.) and sophomore Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) were both called back for further testing in a group of four, followed by another additional testing with only Candela and May in the class. In the end, May took home second place and Candela took third from a very competitive class. In the last class of the day, junior Eimi Fujioka (Toda-shi, Japan) and senior Lingdang Zhang (Chengdu, China) put down fantastic rides, with Fujioka placing second and Zhang placing third.

Special congratulations to the following riders who have secured a spot to compete at Zones on April 6th:

Emmie Mirarchi - Open Fences and Cacchione Cup
Camille Cheng - Intermediate Fences
Hayley Halloran - Limit Fences
Sunita Pearson-Siegel - Limit Fences
Cate Bates - Limit Flat
Chloe McElveen - Limit Flat
Charlie May - Novice
Eimi Fujioka - Introductory