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ALUMNI CLASSES ARE OFFERED IN OVER 20 IHSA REGIONS THIS SEASON If you are new to the IHSA this season or if you are not yet in college it is worth noting that many geographic regions within the IHSA have what are called the Alumni Divisions. In order to compete in an alumni division you must first... 1. Enroll in college. 2. Join that school's IHSA team or start an IHSA team there if the school doesn't already have one. 3. Compete in at least one IHSA show while an undergraduate. As you probably guessed by the name the Alumni divisions were created for those who competed within the IHSA as undergraduates to continue to show within the organization after having received a degree. A rider named Hugh Cassidy, who graduated from Stony Brook University in 1970, wanted to keep showing in the IHSA and came up with the idea of the alumni divisions. As time went by and the IHSA grew - from one single region which made up the entire IHSA in the very early 1970's - to 38 geographic regions from coast-to-coast today - the alumni divisions evolved. By the end of the 1970's there were separate alumni flat and alumni fences classes, and with Western being added to the IHSA alumni horsemanship and alumni reining followed. A stipulation was made along the way that individuals could only ride as undergraduates for eight semesters (or a traditional four years in college) which resulted in many 'super seniors' signing up for alumni classes even though they were still pursuing an undergraduate degree. Also individuals who went to college, joined a team, competed, and then left school without getting a degree remained eligible to return as entries in the alumni divisions. The only catch here is that once you start showing as an alumni (even once) you cannot then show as an undergraduate should you return to college to finish an undergraduate degree. Also alumni could re-locate to another part of the country and still show in the alumni divisions offered in their new surroundings. The only stipulation is that alumni must stay within one specific region for a full season (though there have been rare exceptions where an alumni re-located in mid-season and the IHSA allowed the change). Today some IHSA regions hold alumni classes where nearly all the alumni have undergraduate degrees from schools other than the ones which show locally on a regular basis. The alumni divisions were an immediate hit in the early 1970's, and as the IHSA grew from one region as late as the spring of 1972 to seven regions by 1980 the regions which were directly created from the original New York Metropolitan area region continued to offer alumni classes.
However in some parts of the country alumni was not offered and in a few instances has yet to be offered. By the start of November 2014 at least 22 IHSA Regions had held either one hunter seat or one western alumni class during the 2014-15 season with the possibility that others may do so by the end of the month. It is safe to say that better than half the IHSA's regions are in fact holding some sort of alumni classes this season. The alumni divisions offered are alumni flat and fences for hunter seat riders and alumni western horsemanship and alumni reining for western riders. The two hunter seat alumni divisions are usually judged at the novice level, though in some regions the alumni take a vote and set the fences at the intermediate level (this happens when each of the entries competed at or above intermediate as undergraduates or if a given rider has made significant progress riding outside the IHSA to warrent raising the fences). Alumni Western Horsemanship is usually judged at the novice level, while Alumni Reining should be judged at the open level. If a rider never rode as high as the novice level in either hunter seat or western as an undergraduate and wants to ride as an alumni she or he will likely be evaluated to make certain they are safe to compete at what would be a new high level for them. In some regions only alumni hunter seat flat and alumni western horsemanship classes are held, as a few of the entries might not have jumped or reined up to the present time. Once someone decides to ride as an alumni and provided the region in their area offers alumni classes for their discipline the next step is to contact that region's alumni representative in order to be entered. The official IHSA web site, IHSAinc.com (hopefully) lists these reps as does Campus Equestrian at the end of this story. The alumni representative can explain how to register on the IHSA web site (there are specific guidelines involving timeliness in getting monies and paperwork to the IHSA prior to competing in a show. Alumni should be able to indicate when they competed within the IHSA as an undergraduate to confirm eligibility). Then when the show date arrives the alumni rider travels to the event and competes. Like open riders an alumni rider needs to reach 28 points in one of the four divisions to qualify for Regionals in that division. The earlier one signs up to compete the more opportunities to earn points towards Regionals exist. It should be noted that some regions have limited horse shows which affect the number of alumni who may enter at each show. Also a small number of regions only offer alumni classes at specific shows, again due to limiting issues related to a host school wanting to get as many undergraduate entries into a show as possible. Nevertheless each season a great many riders reach the 28 point plateau and compete at Regionals, Zones and, for a select few the year-end IHSA National show.
If anyone should compete at least once in an alumni class during the 2014-15 season they are then eligible to compete in the Alumni Tournament of Champions events held following the season. For the past three seasons there has been a hunter seat Alumni Tournament of Champions and in July of 2014 the first western Alumni Tournament took place. At an Alumni Tournament event classes are offerred for riders who are comfortable at either the novice and intermediate levels for hunter seat or the novice and advanced level for western. There is also an alumni cup class which is made up of two phases, not unlike the Cacchione Cup and Individual AQHA High Point Rider classes held at IHSA Nationals. The winner of these classes is essentially the grand champion rider at these Alumni Tournament of Champions events. With the Alumni Tournament of Champions series now covering both the hunter seat and western divisions there will be a new award given out at the 2015 Alumni Tournament of Champions show (date and location still being confirmed, though there is a chance the 2015 event may be a rare case of hunter seat and western taking place at the same location on the same day - editor). "The Alumni High Score Award" will be awarded to the rider (be it western or hunter seat) with the most points across their top seven regular season IHSA shows. The recipient must also be entered in at least one Alumni Tournament of Champions class and by physically present at the Tournament event to be eligible to receive the award. According to Lena Andrews, the Zone 3, Region 4 Alumni Rep, seven shows were choosen as not all regions are able to host the maximum number of ten regular season shows. Also a number of alumni ride part-time and cannot get to all the shows. These measures were taken in an effort to be as fair as possible. We would be remiss if we did not mention that in some IHSA regions the Alumni are so important they band together as a group to host or co-host an IHSA show. This should make those alumni feel like they are part of a team, not unlike when they were part of a team as undergraduates. And last but not least there are no age limits so alumni from 18 to 80 can sign up and mount up if they are so inclined. --Steve Maxwell The following is a list of the current IHSA Alumni Reps by Region (only Regions known to offer alumni classes are listed; An asterisk * indicates the region is hunter seat only at this time. During the 2014-15 season some regions which normally offer English and Western to undergraduates may not offer both to alumni. Please check with the rep in your area for more information). In most cases Alumni Reps have been elected to the position in each IHSA region (a very small number are appointed the position when less than two candidates for the honor exist). A few regions, such as Zone 8, Region 5, have an alumni rep but may not hold alumni classes unless the minimum number of three riders sign up to make an IHSA class legal: ZONE 1, REGION 1*: Nikki Layne - nicole.layne@becker.edu ZONE 1, REGION 3: Laura Clampitt - lauracclampitt@gmail.com ZONE 1, REGION 4*: Brittany McLaughlin - brittmclaughlin2@gmail.com ZONE 1, REGION 5: Amy Kriwitsky - amy.kriwitsky@gmail.com ZONE 2, REGION 1: Kristin Stiner - kristinpstiner@gmail.com ZONE 2, REGION 3: David Sookey - sookeyii@oswego.edu ZONE 2, REGION 4*: Rachel Heisler - bronster620@msn.com ZONE 2, REGION 5: Alexa Hunter - ajh116@pitt.edu ZONE 3, REGION 1: Kate Baer - ekwbaer@gmail.com ZONE 3, REGION 2: Samantha Cronce - samanthacronce@gmail.com ZONE 3, REGION 3: Rachel Denning - rachelad89@gmail.com ZONE 3, REGION 4: Lena Andrews-Licata - Lenamandrews@yahoo.com ZONE 3, REGION 5: Jamie Windle - ihsaz3r5alumni@gmail.com ZONE 4, REGION 1*: Kristen Marley - z4r1.IHSA.alumni@gmail.com ZONE 4, REGION 5: Katie Gerht - katieyogurt@gmail.com ZONE 5, REGION 1: Marianne England (Hunter Seat Contact) - wubbie3me@yahoo.com ZONE 5, REGION 1: Kimberly King (Western Contact) - kimberly.r.king27@gmail.com ZONE 5, REGION 2: Margaret Long - margaret.g.long@gmail.com ZONE 5, REGION 5: Marvin Davila - marvin.davila@ufl.edu ZONE 6, REGION 1: Alexandra Kemp-Thompson - kempthompsona@tiffin.edu ZONE 6, REGION 2: Caitlin Sanders - caitlintsanders@gmail.com ZONE 6, REGION 3: Megan Carter - mecarter3@gmail.com ZONE 6, REGION 4: Michelle Ivan - mnivan@svsu.edu ZONE 7, REGION 1: Deborah Shahadey - deb@firstlovefarms.com ZONE 7, REGION 2: Stephanie Cook (Hunter Seat Contact) - cook.family.tx@earthlink.net ZONE 7, REGION 2: Misty Hobbs (Western Contact) - zone7region2alumni@yahoo.com ZONE 7, REGION 4: Tamara Johnsen - tamarajohnsen@gmail.com ZONE 7, REGION 5: Emily Costello - ecostello@truman.edu ZONE 8, REGION 2: Hailey Quirk - haileyquirk@gmail.com ZONE 8, REGION 4: Carrie Hertel - hertelmc@gmail.com ZONE 8, REGION 5: Kristina Harkin - harkin@colorado.edu
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