|
||||||
|
THREE WIN ALUMNI DIVISIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME WHILE SAYRE WINS FOR A FIFTH TIME Harrisburg, PA - There are four alumni divisions held at IHSA Nationals on a yearly basis, each of which has been around for a various amount of time. Alumni equitation on the flat was introduced during the 1970-71 season, and a championship trophy was awarded to the high point alumni rider that season. Hugh Cassidy of the State University of New York at Stony Brook finished with more alumni points than anyone else that season, and became the first rider in IHSA history to win an individual National trophy as a result. The IHSA was only one big region at that time, and a year-end National show was still three seasons away. The alumni over fences division was first held at IHSA Nationals in the spring of 1978, with Jim Hoey of Northampton Community College (in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) the inaugural winner. Hoey later went on to coach Lehigh, Kutztown and Slippery Rock within the IHSA. The first IHSA Nationals to contain a western alumni division was at Mount Holyoke College in 1989, when Delaware Valley College graduate Chris Boyle won the debut of alumni western horsemanship. Strangely enough, Delaware Valley College (which is located in Pennsylvania, not Delaware) did not field a western team between at least 1989 and 1998, though their western program is very much alive and well in 2006. Though the last several IHSA Nationals programs would have you believe otherwise, Alumni Reining was introduced to the National show in 1998 at Port Jervis, New York. Four riders participated that May 3rd, with Findlay graduate Michelle Gagat the first blue ribbon winner. Repeating the blue at Nationals is a hard thing to do, as Gagat was seventh out of seven the following season. Cathy Cumberworth of New Mexico State was the 1999 alumni reining champion, with the runner-up ribbon going to Tana Buckner (later Rawson) of Colorado State, who went to work for Texas A & M around that time and has been part of the Aggies' coaching staff ever since. For the second season in a row the hunter seat alumni classes were held during the Friday session of IHSA Nationals while alumni reining was also held that day. Alumni western horsemanship was held on Saturday afternoon (Some alumni have complained that they are repeatedly forced to take time off from work to compete in weekday classes, when in the past the divisions were usually held over the weekend. Nevertheless only a handful of alumni National Qualifiers have missed out on competing in the year-end show since 2004 because of this). Alumni over fences started the Friday session, taking place before the Cacchione Cup jumping phase, a division in which four of the alumni fences riders had competed as an undergraduate. Two of these four would take the champion and reserve ribbons. 2004 University of Connecticut graduate Shay Meisinger had the honor of being the first rider in the ring Friday morning, entering the in-gate at 8:39AM and leaving roughly two minutes later with a score of '78.' In a strange coincidence, Meisinger had been first into the ring nearly a year ago to the day, entering at 8:37AM. And Meisinger would earn the same exact placing this time around! As was the case throughout the show, each riders' jumping and reining score was announced after their ride, and anyone with a program could write down these scores and get a very good idea as to the eventual placings before they were actually announced. As the division progressed, only two riders scored over '80,' and one of them won by a four-point margin. When the placings were announced tenth place was awarded to 2003 Vanderbilt graduate and current Commodores Head Coach Mawghan McCabe. The former Cacchione rider scored a '69' while ninth went to 2004 Purdue graduate Lauren Sappenfield with a '70.' Lauren Holmes was one of a handful of 2005 alumni making their IHSA debut. The former Pitt Panther was eighth with a score of '72' while former Clemson rider Tanya Bruce earned seventh with a score of '74.5.' Sappenfields' former teammate Ryan Reis was sixth. Purdue was not the only school with two of its' alumni in the class, though both Reis and Sappenfield could claim to have qualified out of the same region. Reis earned a '75' while Thinesh Sivapatham was fifth with a '75.5.' Sivapathem, who rode for the University of Pennsylvania in the early-to-mid 1990's, had actually won the alumni over fences class at 1999 IHSA Nationals in Cazenovia, New York. Sivapatham was not the only rider to have won this class at a prior IHSA National show who would place in the top ten here. 1989 Virginia Intermont graduate Ashton Phillips has now reached Nationals in at least one alumni division every season since 2002. Still looking for his first blue ribbon at an IHSA National show, the current Princeton University Coach (and what a year they had! Their first-ever Region title and 354 points overall, the most of any school in the country!) was awarded a '76' but would have another chance at the top in alumni flat. Meisinger had placed third overall in 2005 and finished with the exact same placing this time. 1999 Stonehill College graduate Emily Unger won the alumni fences at 2005 Nationals in Sunbury, Ohio, but was the runner-up this time with a score of '81.' Unger now lives in Albany, New York where she attends medical school. The three-time top ten Cacchione finisher is scheduled to graduate on May 24, 2007 and will thus be Dr. Unger in any alumni classes after that. Before Angee Quattro enrolled at Virginia Intermont College in the fall of 1999, the cobras had won their region all of two times and had competed at IHSA Nationals only once (flying to Los Angeles in 1996 where they placed fourth overall with 14 points). Yet with Quattro on board Virginia Intermont qualified for Nationals all four seasons, scoring 24 points in 2000 (third), 19 in 2001 (fourth), six in 2002 and 14 in 2003 (fourth). Quattro made her first alumni ride at IHSA Nationals a memorable one, scoring '85' to win the alumni fences. When asked what the 2003 VI graduate has been up to recently, Quattro was busy enjoying the rewards of home ownership. "I just bought my first house in Sterling, Virginia' said the rider whose last appearance had been in team open fences at 2003 Nationals in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Following the lengthy jumping phase of the Cacchione Cup Competition and the team intermediate fences, the alumni who wear basic black had another turn. The alumni equitation on the flat included eight riders who had shown earlier over fences, while five others made their 2006 alumni debut. Because this was a flat class there would be no scoring announced, meaning that the placings themselves held high drama. Following the walk-trot-walk-canter-walk-reverse-repeat process, the riders were asked to line up and the scores of judges Robert Bielefeld and Linda Andrisani were calculated. Announcer Ken Marash (back as the IHSA Nationals announcer for the first time since 2002 - Hooray!) excused three riders (including both Reis and Sappenfield from the jumping class) and then began announcing the placings. Tenth went to Sivapatham, one of six riders who had earned a ribbon earlier. Ninth was awarded to 2001 University of Delaware graduate Sara McCoy, who is also coach of the Villanova equestrian team (which competes in the same region as her alma matter). Meisinger was eighth in her first-ever Nationals flat ride while McCabe improved three placings from her fences ride with a seventh. Quattros' bid to go undefeated for the day was not to be, as her flat ride resulted in sixth place. 2002 Miami of Ohio graduate Erin Barritt (who was Erin Armbruster at that time) was fifth while 2005 Middle Tennessee State alumni Jaclyn Cradduck was fourth. Cradduck had tied for tenth overall at 2005 Nationals in the Cacchione Cup Competition.
The three riders who remained in the ring were Phillips, Unger and Drew University graduate and Assistant Coach Sandra Sayre. Back in the late 1980's, Phillips had been Sayre's instructor at what was then Suburban Essex Equestrian Center in West Orange, New Jersey. Up through this morning Sayre had gone on to win alumni classes at IHSA Nationals on four separate occasions, while her trainer had come very close several times but never went home with the blue ribbon. History repeated itself as Phillips was third, placing in the top four for the seventh time in eight alumni classes he has appeared in at Nationals since May of 2002. Unger then was announced as second. "Always a bridesmaid but never a bride" was Unger's response, though the Stonehill alum was happy with her two reserve ribbons, giving her a first and two seconds in three of the past four Nationals hunter seat alumni classes. Sayre then knocked herself out of the record books. Already the only individual to win more than three alumni classes at IHSA Nationals, Sayre won her fifth blue ribbon. The 1993 Zone 2, Region 1 representative in the Cacchione class can now claim blue ribbons at Nationals in alumni flat three times (1998, 2000 and 2006) and alumni fences twice (2000 and 2001). And though Unger may not yet be a bride, Sayre was in fact slated to walk down the aisle on June 3rd. Sayre may have five alumni blue ribbons at Nationals, but could she become the first alumni rider ever to win a hunter seat alumni class and a IHSA Nationals western alumni class, and at the same show no less? The answer to that question would have to wait until tomorrow, when Sayre would make her IHSA Nationals western debut in alumni western horsemanship. The last class on Friday was the alumni reining, which did not include any riders from the earlier hunter seat alumni divisions. Nine riders took part, with only Zones 2, 3 and 8 able to advance two riders to Nationals in the division. In a departure from the usual announcement of one combined judges' score after each reining pattern, Marash announced the scores of judges Patti Carter and Carol Potter separately. Trisha Prettyman of the University of Maryland took ninth place with scores of '64.5' and '65,' though the difference between ninth and first would not be all that great. Prettyman coaches the Maryland western team, just as Annemarie McAsey coaches the Utah State team. McAsey was eighth with scores of '64' and '66' while James Stewart of Montana State took seventh with '63.5' and '67.5.' Kimberly LaMonte of Cazenovia nearly had the most similar scores, earning the green ribbon with '66.5' and '65.5.' Saylise Schraeder of Bloomsburg was next with scores of '65' and '68.5' while Marist graduate Jeanine Branham was fourth with the widest disparity of totals, earning a '64' and a '71!' Branham was one of only two riders in this division that could claim to have competed for the individual AQHA Trophy at a previous IHSA Nationals show (in this case, the 2003 competition). Jessica Schultz of Middle Tennessee State had scores of '68.5' and - eh - '68.5,' thus earning the most similar (and seemingly identical) scores from Carter and Potter. 2003 Delaware Valley College graduate Dawn Kaufman nearly became the first alumni rider from a school east of Ohio to win the division. From Hammonton, New Jersey, Kaufman earned the red reserve ribbon with scores of '67.5' and '72,' the latter being the highest score awarded by either judge in this division. 2004 Ohio State graduate Barbara Stancel may not have had a '72' but her '69.5' and '71.5' made her the 2006 alumni reining champion. From Columbus, Ohio, Stancel was making her first IHSA Nationals appearance since placing third in the nation in the individual AQHA Trophy class in Murfreesboro two seasons ago. The alumni reining concluded day two festivities at Nationals. Six classes into the day three/Saturday schedule would be the final alumni division of 2005-06, the western horsemanship or rail division. After everyone walked, jogged and loped, lined up, worked their way through the pattern one-by-one and lined up again the placings were ready to be announced. Prettyman had finished out of the ribbons in this division last season but was tenth this time. 2004 California of Pennsylvania graduate Jaclyn Page had also missed out on a ribbon above participation level last season, but was into the top ten with ninth in '06. The mystery of if Sayre could win both an english and western alumni class at the same National show was answered when she placed eighth. 2006 Kutztown graduate Shari Seidman was the first of two Golden Bear alumni in the top ten, placing seventh. Utah State alum McAsey moved up two ribbons from her reining class, placing sixth.
Shannon Whitney was the lone representative of the State University of New York at Oswego - graduate or otherwise - to compete at 2006 Nationals, placing fifth. 2005 Kutztown graduate Chrystal Coffelt was the second of two Golden Bear riders in the top ten, earning her best IHSA Nationals ribbon to date with a fourth. At this point three riders remained in the ring, and two of them were from Middle Tennessee State. The other was Stancel, who for a moment had a chance to become the second western alumni rider with two firsts at the same IHSA National show (New Mexico State graduate Miguel Maes had won both the alumni reining and rail at 2001 Nationals in Conyers, Georgia). Stancel was awarded third, giving both of the top prizes to a pair of former Blue Raiders. 2001 MTSU graduate Schultz moved up from a sixth in the same division in Sunbury last season to place second while 2004 graduate Corinne Gould was the new rail champion. From Ashland City, Tennessee, Gould had not ridden at IHSA Nationals since the 2002 show in Cazenovia, New York, at which time she placed third in individual open western. Schultz (who is the current Barn Manager at Middle Tennessee State) had one undergraduate appearance at Nationals, placing third in advanced western her senior year. Gould became the second MTSU alumni rider to win a class at Nationals (Lisa Ligon-Grissom won alumni western horsemanship in 2003). With Gould, Schultz and Stancel making the top three, 2006 Nationals proved to be a good outing for those who have been out of school for awhile, as not one rider from the class of '05 earned a ribbon higher than fourth in any of the alumni divisions. The good news for the O-fivers is that they have a shot to return next season. Hopefully some O-sixers will give them a run for their money. ---Steve Maxwell The following is a list of the Alumni Class-by-Class Results from 2006 IHSA Nationals, held at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Alumni Fences, Alumni Flat and Alumni Reining were held on Friday, May 5th while Alumni Western Horsemanship was held on Saturday, May 6th. The judges for all hunter seat classes were Linda Andrisani and Robert Bielefeld while the judges for all western classes were Patti Carter and Carol Potter: Individual alumni equitation over fences: 1. Angee Quattro, Virginia Intermont College. 2. Emily Unger, Stonehill College. 3. Shay Meisinger, University of Connecticut. 4. Ashton Phillips, Virginia Intermont College. 5. Thinesh Sivapatham, University of Pennsylvania. 6. Ryan Reis, Purdue University. 7. Tanya Bruce, Clemson University. 8. Lauren Holmes, University of Pittsburgh. 9. Lauren Sappenfield, Purdue University. 10. Mawghan McCabe, Vanderbilt University. Individual alumni equitation on the flat: 1. Sandra Sayre, Drew University. 2. Emily Unger, Stonehill College. 3. Ashton Phillips, Virginia Intermont College. 4. Jaclyn Cradduck, Middle Tennessee State University. 5. Erin Barritt, Miami University of Ohio. 6. Angee Quattro, Virginia Intermont College. 7. Mawghan McCabe, Vanderbilt University. 8. Shay Meisinger, University of Connecticut. 9. Sara McCoy, University of Delaware. 10. Thinesh Sivapatham, University of Pennsylvania. Individual alumni reining: 1. Barbara Stancel, Ohio State University. 2. Dawn Kaufman, Delaware Valley College. 3. Jessica Schultz, Middle Tennessee State University. 4. Jeanine Branham, Marist College. 5. Saylise Schraeder, Bloomsburg University. 6. Kimberly LaMonte, Cazenovia College. 7. James Stewart, Montana State University. 8. Annemarie McAsey, Utah State University. 9. Trisha Prettyman, University of Maryland. Individual alumni western horsemanship: 1. Corrine Gould, Middle Tennessee State University. 2. Jessica Schultz, Middle Tennessee State University. 3. Barbara Stancel, Ohio State University. 4. Chrystal Coffelt, Kutztown University. 5. Shannon Whitney, State University of New York at Oswego. 6. Annemarie McAsey, Utah State University. 7. Shari Seidman, Kutztown University. 8. Sandra Sayre, Drew University. 9. Jaclyn Page, California University of Pennsylvania. 10. Trisha Prettyman, University of Maryland.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
HOME
| CONTACT US |
||||||
