BERLIN, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College hunt seat riding team put on an outstanding show at Zone I Region 3 Championships, held Saturday at Maplewood Farm, finishing the day as region champions. The Lyons move on to compete not only as a team at the Zone I Championships, to be held April 6 at Mystic Valley Hunt Club in Gales Ferry, Conn., but with a slew of individual qualifiers as well.

 

Regionals is an individuals only show, while all our riders represented Mount Holyoke, there are no team points. To qualify for this show, riders must accumulate 36 (or 28 in Open) points during regular season competition in a division to "point out." Once pointed out, they show in the next division up, but compete at Regionals for the division they pointed out of. The top two individuals in each class at Regionals make it on to Zones.

 

First in the ring was senior captain Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) in Open Fences. Camille laid down a lovely round to win the class and punched her ticket to Zones.

 

Senior manager Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) was next in Intermediate Fences, winning her class and a spot at Zones.

 

Next was Limit Fences, the biggest jumping class of the day. Sophomore Montserrat Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.) rode Monkey, finishing just outside the ribbons. Senior Mads Hurley (Portland, Maine) rode Reggie, finishing sixth. Sophomore Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) rode Chip, finishing fifth. And sophomore Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.) also rode Chip, finishing fourth.

 

A brief schooling break, then Bates was in for Intermediate Flat. She finished second, securing another spot at Zone Finals.

 

Hurley and Mutz returned to the ring for a large group of Limit Flat, putting in nice rides, both finishing just outside the ribbons.

 

Novice was the biggest class of the day. With so many entries, 15 riders rode in 3 groups of 5, with the top 5 being called back to ride again. Senior Mara Downie (Holyoke, Mass.) rode Muddy Brook's Dolly, finishing just outside the ribbons. Senior True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) rode Muddy Brook's Reggie, earning fifth. And sophomore Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) topped the class, and earned a spot at Zones.

 

Introductory was the last class of the day. Two seniors, Artemis Chen (Suzhou, China) and Megan Bliamptis (Lexington, Mass.), finished the day strong, taking first and second respectively -- both moving on to Zones.

 

End of season awards came at the end of the day: Bates was Reserve High Point Flat for the season, and Cheng finished third in the Cacchione Cup.