AMHERST, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College varsity hunt seat riding team kept up its string of first-place finishes on Sunday, placing first among 10 teams at the UMass-Smith Show hosted by Muddy Brook Farm.
The Lyons placed first for the third time in as many shows this fall, scoring 40 points to outpace runner-up UMass-Amherst (32). Rounding out the standings were Amherst (28), Smith (21), Worcester State (21), Bentley (17), Springfield (14), Williams (12), Trinity (11), and WPI (9).
Competing in that first class (Open Fences) were seniors Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) and Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.). Bates took second in her Open Fences debut, and Cheng fifth. Junior Hallie Phillips (Santa Rosa, Calif.) was up next, riding to a sixth place finish in Intermediate fences A, while sophomore Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.) took fifth place in section B.
Among the many sections of Limit Fences, Mount Holyoke had at least one of the top-two finishers in each of the splits. First-year Emi Graf (Belmont, Mass.) and junior Charlotte Subak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each won their class, while junior Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.), sophomoore Montse Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.), and sophomore Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) each took home second place in their splits. The second place finish meant Mutz qualified for Regionals. Senior Dekyi Deji (Beijing, China) was fourth in her Limit debut, and fellow seniors True Usiatynski (Faytteville, N.Y.) and Mara Downie (Holyoke, Mass.) took fourth and fifth, respectively.
Mount Holyoke dominated Novice flat, winning the top spots in each class. Junior Nora Tripp (Westford, Mass.) was first, with first-year Emma Jablonka (Westfield, N.J.) second in section A. First-year Bessie Huggins (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) finished first in Section B, and junior Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.) first in Section C, qualifying for Regionals.
Senior Artemis Chen (Suzhou, China) led the charge for Introductory Flat, winning her class. In the next class, senior Lakshyaa Sreekumar (Mississauga, Ontario) finished second, and junior Lia Liang (Beijing, China) was third, in her horse showing debut. Next up in Pre-Novice, junior Nina Pereira (Easthampton, Mass.) took first in Section A, and first-year Sarah Reading (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) second in Section B.
There was lots of action in Limit Flat, which was divided into six sections! Bitler and Graf won their sections, May and Mutz were both third, Usiatynski fourth, and Hartwig and Subak each took home a fifth place ribbon. Then, the Lyons' only Intermediate Flat rider for the day, Phillips, returned to the ring for a fourth-place finish.
Finally, Mount Holyoke's Open riders both opened and closed the day, with Bates taking third and Cheng fifth in Open flat.
After a three-person ride-off, Graf took home High Point Rider.
Graf also was High Point Limit Rider. Tripp was Reserve High Point Novice, and Chen won High Point Intro.
Mount Holyoke hosts its first home show of the year Saturday, Oct. 26 at the MHC Equestrian Center.
-- Reporting by Cates Bates
