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THE WONDER OF ZONES Though IHSA Nationals are the Championships, the shows which preceed them are perhaps as entertaining as the National show itself. The IHSA post-season is made up of two rounds of playoffs and the Championships. The first round of playoffs are known as Regionals. Riders in each official division except open and alumni need to accrue 35 points in order to qualify on an individual basis for a Regional show. Open and alumni riders need 28 points, but also see their points erased at the end of each season, while everyone else's carry over. At Regional Shows, including several in Zones 6 and 9 this weekend, the goal is to place first or second (or third in a few cases) in your class so that you advance to Zones. Zones shows are made up of individual classes numbering between six and nine riders (depending on the Zone) and eight team classes. Each of the teams in the Team Competition got there by earning more points during the Regular Season than any other in their region. Riders showing in the team classes do not 'qualify' but instead are selected by their coach. Each coach must plan ahead, for in order to be competitive in this competition your team must have someone in each division, and once a rider has classed up they cannot go back down for a team class. There is a certain auora to a Zones show, perhaps caused by faces from different regions coming together for the first time all season. Or perhaps it is because all the individual qualifiers survived one round of playoffs, but still have to survive another round to compete at Nationals. Maybe it is because the team competition sometimes goes back and forth, with no mystery as to who is pointed. Whatever the wonder of Zones may be, there are more of these shows this weekend than in any other this season, and usually one or more will feature a close team competition. Zone 1 Zones, which is English only, will hold their show Saturday at their yearly neutral court, the Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts. This show is often the most exciting event of the entire post-season. In 2002, each of the four teams enterred could claim to have been in first place and last place at some point during the show! Though several programs have been vary consistant, only once in the past nine seasons have all the teams from the previous Zone 1 Zones show returned. This year's team competition features two new entries: Dartmouth College, which will be taking a full team to Zones for the first time ever, and the University of Connecticut, back in the team competition for the first time since 1998. Since UConn's last team appearance, Mount Holyoke College won Nationals in 2000 while Stonehill College did likewise in 2003. Mount Holyoke and Stonehill fill out the Zone 1 bracket this season. Only the top two teams in the team competition advance to Nationals. Zone 2 has both English and Western, and as a result will have separate Hunter Seat and Stock Seat Shows this weekend. The english matchup features Centenary College, Saint Lawrence University and host Skidmore College. Only one of these teams had much of a regular season race for the top spot, and in that case, Saint Lawrence ran away with two of the final three shows to win Zone 2, Region 2 by 36 points. The Sunday western matchup features the United States Military Academy, Cazenovia College and host Morrisville State College. The latter two ran away with their regions, while USMA edged out Drew by ten points. The Region 1 Representative in the western competition has been the odd team out the past two seasons, though this year's USMA team may be better than previous entries. Though three of the past four Zone 2 hunter seat team competitions have essentially been over before the fourth division, the 2003 show was very close, with St. Lawrence starting deep in the basement (three last-place ribbons) but rallying to win outright! This is the saints' first appearance in the team competition since that wild outing in Port Jervis. Two of three will advance. Zone 3 also holds their English and Western Zones on different days, and as a result, their Western Zones show is already in the books! Delaware Valley College won four of the six team classes against West Virginia two Saturdays ago, and advanced their western team to Nationals for the first time ever. The Del Val hunter seat team is qualified again this season, competing against Penn State, Bucknell and Yale. For the fifth season in a row, at least one team from last season's Zone 3 Zone finals is not back. Penn State won Zone 3 Hunter Seat Zones in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and is back in '05. However Bucknell and Yale unseated last season's representatives from their respective regions. Though Bucknell took part in 2002 and 2003, Yale joins Dartmouth as another Ivy League School making their first team appearance. With the weather forecast projecting sunny skies and a high of 60 degrees, Briarwood Farm in Readington, New Jersey will probably be the only IHSA site this Saturday hosting an outdoor Zones show. As is the case everywhere except Zone 8, the top two hutner seat teams advance to Nationals. Zone 4, while technically not all-english, has western in only one of three regions, so no western zones are necessary. 2005 Zone 4 Zones take place on Friday, with Hollins hosting and competing against Goucher College and defending National Champion Virginia Intermont College. Though we are supposed to be impartial, we cannot help rooting for Goucher, as both Hollins and Virginia Intermont have survived this Zones competition every time since 2000. Though our heart may be with Goucher, our mind says the other two are bona-fide threats to win the National Championship four weekends later. Like Zone 2, Zone 5 will stage english and western Zones on separated days this weekend. Both shows will be hosted at Middle Tennessee State's Horse Science Arena, with the English riders going first. College of Charleston, which tied Centenary for third at 2001 IHSA Nationals, makes their first Zone 5 Zones appearance since. Charleston came from behind at the final Region 3 show to overtake Savannah College of Art & Design for the title. The University of the South survivied the most interesting hunter seat team race in the country this season, as Maryville College, Middle Tennessee State and Vanderbilt all took turns trying in vain to catch the tigers, who won by two over Maryville when it was all over. Both Charleston and the University of the South will face Berry College in the team competition. Berry won Region 2 by 115 points, one of the widest margins between first and second nationwide. On Sunday it will be Berry, the University of Florida and host Middle Tennessee State in the stock seat team competition. These are the exact same three teams that took part in the 2004 Zone 5 Zone finals, and if the number of western riders in the Zone did not change radically, the top two in both Zone 5 Zone shows will advance to Nationals. The only Zone Show with a completely different set of rules takes place in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Zone 7 Zone finals will take place Saturday. Zone 7 is the only IHSA Zone with only two regions, and because they have enough hunter seat riders both Colorado State (the high point hunter seat team in Region 1) and Texas A & M (the high point hunter seat team in Region 2) go to IHSA Nationals. However there is a hunter seat team competition, yet it is only an exhibition. The Western situation is completely different, as Zone 7 has so many stock seat riders that a four-way Western Team Competition allows one of the two reserve teams (either Colorado State or Oklahoma State this season) to go on to Nationals even though they did not win their region. Texas A & M was second to Oklahoma State in Region 2 last season, but survived Zones and went on to be outright National Champions. Both Texas A & M and New Mexico State are assured of taking full Stock Seat Teams to 2005 Nationals by virtue of having won their regions. Even if Oklahoma State and Colorado State finish ahead of them in the team competition they still get to go. With all this having been said, the majority of Zone Finals competitors ride in the individual classes, and in many cases, one and only one rider will go on to represent their team at Nationals. No matter what interest you may have in the IHSA shows this weekend, we hope your rider wins, your team wins and that you are part of 2005 IHSA Nationals at Eden Park Equestrian Complex in Sunbury, Ohio come early May. ---Steve Maxwell
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Entire
Zone ZONE 4 ZONES Hosted by Hollins University at Hollins
Riding Center, Roanoke, VA 11:00AM ENGLISH ONLY
Zone 9,
Region 1 ZONE 9, REGION 1 STOCK SEAT REGIONALS Hosted by Saint Mary of the Woods College,
on campus, Saint Mary of the Woods, IN 6:30PM WESTERN ONLY