Above: The 2025 IHSA Zone 1 Champion Mount Holyoke College Lyons. At right: Low medalist Sophia Bull and High medalist Hallie Phillips.
TOWSON, Md. -- Eight Mount Holyoke College hunt seat team members traveled to Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, for the Preseason Tournament of Champions on Saturday, taking home a sixth-place finish among 12 teams. These tournaments bring together the top teams from around the country, allowing teams that might only compete against each other at Nationals a chance to see how they stack up.
Our first rider of the day was senior Hallie Phillips (Santa Rosa, Calif.) on Clever, placing sixth in Open Fences. Next up was junior Carly Bitler (Wellington, Fla.) in Intermediate Fences with a lovely round on Worthy, placing second. She was followed by sophomore Emi Graf (Belmont, Mass.) on Sailor, placing second in Limit Fences.
Following a short schooling break, senior Lili Evans (Groton, Mass.) piloted Mango to a 6th place finish in Open Flat. Phillips then returned to the ring for Section B of the High Medal, while first-year Sophia Bull (Lumberton, N.J.), made her IHSA debut in Section B of the Low Medal. Both Phillips and Bull were called back in the top halves of their respective classes to compete in the fences portions later in the day.
Senior Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.) piloted Russ to a first-place finish in Limit Flat.
Sophomore Bessie Huggins (New Providence, N.J.), rode Kumba to a fifth place finish in Novice. She was followed by senior Lia Liang (Beijing, China), who made her tournament debut with a third place in Intro aboard Paddy. Finally, Bull and Phillips returned to the ring for the fences portion of their medal classes. Bull ended fifth out of 12 in the low medal on Gandhi, while Phillips finished sixth out of 12 on Mango in the high medal.
At the end of the day, points were calculated and team results were announced. After breaking a tie between Mount Holyoke and Goucher College by counting the number of first and second places each team had, Mount Holyoke finished sixth out of twelve teams. A tiebreaker was also needed between the champion and reserve champion schools, Delaware Valley and Lynchburg.
Final Team Results:
Champion: Delaware Valley University - 39 points
Reserve Champion: University of Lynchburg - 39 points
3rd: SCAD Bee-Strong - 36 points
4th: SCAD Bee-Power - 34 points
5th: Purdue University - 32 points
6th: Mount Holyoke College - 30 points
7th: Goucher College.- 30 points
8th: Marist College - 27 points
9th: Alfred University - 23 points
10th: University of Rhode Island - 22 points
11th: Penn State University - 20 points
12th: Towson University - 14 points
Low Medal Results:
Champion: Adriana Hardin, Goucher College
Reserve Champion: Nathaniel Biery, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
3rd: Haylie Johnson, Purdue University
4th: Grace Hannah, Penn State University
5th: Sophia Bull, Mount Holyoke College
6th: Cameron Andruskiewicz, Goucher College
High Medal Results:
Champion: Jessica McElhaney, University of Lynchburg
Reserve Champion: Grace Allen, Delaware Valley University
3rd: Alexander Alston, SCAD
4th: Hope Verschlieser, Goucher College
5th: Abby Shelchuck, Purdue University
6th: Hallie Phillips, Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke's first regular season show of the semester is Williams College on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Bonnie Lea Farm in Williamstown, Mass.
-- Reporting by Emi Graf