MILL SPRING, N.C. -- A resilient Mount Holyoke equestrian team scored three more points on the final day of IHSA Nationals to finish with the ninth most points among 16 teams at the competition, in the Lyons' best result at Nationals since 2018.
Senior captain Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) led the Lyons off with a great ride in Team Open Fences. Cheng rode Grant, provided by Skidmore College, and earned a score of 67 -- earning herself an Honorable Mention and finishing her Collegiate riding career on a high note.
First-year Alyssa Martinsen (Arlington Heights, Ill.) then represented Mount Holyoke in Team Intermediate Equitation on the Flat. Martinsen rode Luca, provided by Lynchburg College, to finish with an Honorable Mention in a competitive class with much no-stirrup work.
The final class of Nationals was Team Open Flat. Though senior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) rode in this class at Zones, a fall off a horse and a ruptured spleen meant that, medically, Bates could not ride. A substitute was found in junior Lili Evans (Groton, Mass.), the captain of the Western team, who was already set to compete at Nationals in the Western High Point Rider class as well as Individual Open Horsemanship and Individual Reining.
Although Evans had never shown in Hunt Seat IHSA before, she stepped up to the task in a major way. A cutthroat class, the riders entered the ring and immediately were told to drop their stirrups. It was a marathon of no-stirrup work, and Evans made it through multiple cuts to finish in seventh place.
Points were totaled, and the Lyons finished with 23 for the competition. Purdue University won with 37 points, with Sacred Heart second (36). Rounding out the top 10 teams were Centenary (34), SCAD (34), Skidmore (33), Lynchburg (29.5), Emory & Henry (26), Delaware Valley (25), Mount Holyoke (23), Stanford (20.5), Northeastern (18.5), Southern California (18), Miami Ohio (17), Otterbein (17), Berry (3), and Wisconsin-River Falls (0.5).
On the same day back on campus at the Annual Athletics Awards, head coach C.J. Law and assistant coach Morgan Lynch were named Mount Holyoke's Coaching Staff of the Year, and Bates was named Senior Athlete of the Year.
-- Reporting by Cates Bates
