Hadley, Mass. - November 11, 2019 - The Mount Holyoke College varsity hunter seat team continued their early-season success on Sunday afternoon, as the Lyons emerged from the UMass Amherst Show victorious and earned the High Point College Title in a show that took place at Hadley Farm in Hadley, Mass.
Mount Holyoke College totaled 43 points en route to their third High Point College Title in the first six shows of the 2019-20 season. The Lyons were followed by UMass Amherst, which produced 37 points, while Worcester State (26), Smith (22) and Amherst College (21) rounded out the top five.
The day started with Open Fences, where junior Sara Hearn (Tallahasee, Fla.) started the Lyons off with a win following a beautiful trip over the fences. Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar (Cummington, Mass.) then followed with another strong ride, resulting in a fourth-place finish for the senior.
Next was two sections of Intermediate Over Fences. In the first section, Emy McLaughlin (Portland, Maine) and Libby Sams (Atlanta, Ga.) both competed and McLaughlin finished fifth overall, with Sams finishing as the reserve. In the second section, first-year Georgia Fish (Baltimore, Md.) and senior Harriet Thomson (Carlisle, Mass.) both had strong rides, as Fish finished third and was followed by Thomson's fourth-place result.
The ring then moved on to Limit Fences with three splits. In the first split, sophomore Sierra Dunn (Northampton, Mass.) was first overall and was followed by Johanna Sullivan (Worcester, Mass.), who finished as the runner up. Next, Marina McDonald (Northampton, Mass.) had a stunning trip over the fences finishing in second place, and in the final split, Sarah Etzel (Northampton, Mass.) finished fifth.
After a short break, the show moved on to the flat portion of the day. In the Open Flat, Hearn returned to the ring and posted another first-place finish for the Lyons. Another section of Intermediate Flat followed suit and saw Thomson and McLaughlin return to the ring with strong rides, taking third overall and fourth overall, respectively. The second section saw an additional solid ride from Katerina Alvarez (Miami, Fla.), who finished fourth in her class.
The Limit Flat was up next with multiple sections. McDonald won her class with a beautiful ride, before Sullivan returned to the ring and earned another blue ribbon for Mount Holyoke College. In the third section, Fish came back to the ring and delivered a stunning ride for a first-place finish.
Next was the Novice division, which featured fantastic rides from first-year Kristen Adolf (Moore, S.C.), who won her section, while Aihua Boothroyd (Maynard, Mass.) and Marlene Healey (Coventry, Conn.) took first and third, respectively, in their section.
The show then moved to Pre-Novice with two sections. In the first split, Rachel Banister (San Diego, Calif.) made her IHSA debut and put forth a beautiful ride, finishing just shy of the rankings. In the next section, Daniela Fraser (Vero Beach, Fla.) had a strong ride to finish second in her class.
Wrapping up the day was two sections of Introductory. The first section had Luhan Wang (Nanjing, China) who took first with a beautiful ride, before Xike Zhao (Shenyang, China) competed in the section division and took third overall.
At day's end, Hearn was called back to the ring for a tie-breaker for the overall High Point Rider of the day. After a series of testing, Hearn eventually prevailed, before Sullivan was announced as the High Point Limit Rider. Additionally, McDonald earned Reserve High Point Limit Rider Title of the day.
Up next, Mount Holyoke College will return to South Hadley on Saturday, November 16 and will host the Mount Holyoke College Show, which is set to begin at 9 a.m.
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