AMHERST, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke hunt seat riding team finished off the IHSA regular season schedule on a frigid Sunday at the UMass-Amherst Show, hosted by Muddy Brook Farm.
The Lyons tied Reserve Champion honors with Bentley University while also finishing with the most points in the region for the regular season. They'll move on to the Zone I Region III finals, taking place Saturday, March 8 at Maplewood Farm in Berlin, Mass.
UMass scored 42 points to take first place at Sunday's show, followed by Mount Holyoke and Bentley with 29 apiece. Amherst and Smith tied for fourth place with 23 points each, followed by Springfield (21), Worcester State (14), Williams (12), Trinity (10) and WPI (9).
Senior Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) started the day off with third place in Open fences, and qualified for Regionals. Then senior Mads Hurley (Portland, Maine) made their Intermediate fences debut, finishing fifth alongside sophomore Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.), who finished second. In Intermediate Section B, sophomore Eliza Mutz (Staanford, Calif.) was fifth with sophomore Montserrat Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.) in sixth.
Senior True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) entered the ring in the first section of Limit Fences and took home a fourth place ribbon. Junior Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) was up next in Section B, and earned a second place finish. First-year Alyssa Martinsen (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and senior Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.) rode in Section C, with Martinsen taking the blue and Smith third. And rounding out the fences classes, senior Mara Downie (Holyoke, Mass.) and sophomore Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) put in a 1-2 finish.
After flat schooling, Smith returned to the ring for Limit flat, finishing fifth. Next, Martinsen rode to a fourth place in Section B. Neumuth was fifth in Section C, and May sixth in Section D.
Mount Holyoke's two Intermediate flat riders, Hurley and Mutz, both placed third in their respective classes. Following that, Cheng rode to a fourth place finish in Open flat.
Sophomore Anna Ji (Shanghai, China) and first-year Lucy Lu (Shanghai, China) started off our Introductory flat classes, Ji was second and Lu third. Then, sophomore Kenny Yang (Jiangsu, China) made her horse showing debut and earned a fourth place ribbon. Sophomore Milly Chen (Nanjing, China) made her horse showing debut and earned fourth place. Sophomore Chloe Zhou (Anhui, China) was first alongside her. And junior Lia Liang (Beijing, China) finished off the division with a third place in her class.
In Novice classes, junior Nina Pereira (Easthampton, Mass.) was third in Pre-Novice Section A. First-year Cloe Hinck (Norwich, Vt.) made her IHSA debut in Pre-Novice B, earning fourth. Sophomore Maya Bomhardt (Glenwood, Md.) went next, earning a blue ribbon in Novice. First-year Az Reading (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) took third in Novice Section B, and first-year Emma Jablonka (Westfield, N.J.) closed out with third in Section C.
Mount Holyoke ended the day Reserve Champions, tied with Bentley University. We finish the season with the most points overall!
After some quiz bowls, our Divisional High Point riders emerged:
Martinsen - Limit Reserve High Point
Bomhardt - Novice High Point
Zhou - Introductory High Point
-- Reporting by Cate Bates
