On March 18th Jordan Siegel of Savannah College of Art & Design clinched a place at Nationals in the Cacchione Cup Competition. Siegel became only the third rider in the past 12 years to qualify for the IHSA Nationals Cacchione Class four times.

2005-06 CACCHIONE CUP QUALIFIERS

The field is now completely set for the 2006 Cacchione Cup Competition. On April 1st Haley Hicks of Boston University clinched in Zone 1, Region 4 while Samantha Pandolfi won a ride-off versus teammate Jennifer Betts to advance from Zone 3, Region 1. Both Hicks (from Chesterfield, MO) and Pandolfi (from Danbury, CT) are freshman, as are Elizabeth West of the University of the South (from Richmond, VA) and Kati Cibon (from Bannockburn, IL). The other 26 riders are all sophomores and up.

Hicks, Pandolfi, West & Cibon have a chance to qualify for the Cacchione all four seasons. No matter what happens, these members of the class of '09 are the only four who can make this claim. We bring this up because only three riders since 1994 have managed to advance from their respective regions to compete at Nationals for the Cacchione Cup all four years in college, and two of them accomplished the feat this season.

On February 15th, Virginia Intermont College senior Erika Jewell locked up her fourth consecutive Cacchione appearance out of Zone 4, Region 3, clinching with one regular season show remaining. On March 18th, Jordan Siegel of Savannah College of Art & Design in Zone 5, Region 3 did likewise. Only 2004 University of San Diego graduate Kate De Kraay can also claim to be in this elite group over the past decade.

The riders that made it in this season show how difficult it is to make it back two seasons in a row, let alone four. Kristine Kennedy, Erica Bello, Jennifer Hutson, Krystal Mack, Meghan Sederholm, Kaitlyn Kleck, Jewell, Siegel and 2005 Cacchione Cup Champion Ashley Woodhouse are the only riders to finish on top of their regions again this season as they did in 2005. Seven others who reached Nationals in the Cacchione last season were not able to repeat this season.

The flat phase (two separate classes of 15) of the Cacchione Competition takes place in the afternoon on May 4th. The over fences phase takes place on the morning of May 5th. A work-off phase, which contained as few as five riders in 2004 but more on other occasions, will take place in the morning on May 6th (a Saturday). After the work-off phase the judges will select a winner, and that individual will be the champion IHSA hunter seat open rider for 2005-06. All of the English classes take place at the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania May 4th through 6th.

--Steve Maxwell

2006 IHSA Nationals Cacchione Cup Qualifiers:

ZONE 1, REGION 1: Whitney Keefe, Brown University

ZONE 1, REGION 2: Tim Malone, Dartmouth College

ZONE 1, REGION 3: Nathalie Cooper, Mount Holyoke College

ZONE 1, REGION 4: Haley Hicks, Boston University

ZONE 2, REGION 1: Kristine Kennedy, Drew University

ZONE 2, REGION 2: Brittan White, Saint Lawrence University

ZONE 2, REGION 3: Ashley Woodhouse, Skidmore College

ZONE 2, REGION 4: Rachel Cresswell, Stony Brook University

ZONE 3, REGION 1: Samantha Pandolfi, Penn State University

ZONE 3, REGION 2: Katie Carssow, University of Pennsylvania

ZONE 3, REGION 3: Mary Markvan, West Virginia University

ZONE 3, REGION 4: Erica Bello, Rutgers University

ZONE 4, REGION 1: Jodie Weber, Sweet Briar College

ZONE 4, REGION 2: Caitlin Lane, Washington & Lee University

ZONE 4, REGION 3: Erika Jewell, Virginia Intermont College

ZONE 5, REGION 1: Elizabeth West, University of the South

ZONE 5, REGION 2: Lauren Brown, Berry College

ZONE 5, REGION 3: Jordan Siegel, Savannah College of Art & Design

ZONE 6, REGION 1: Kati Cibon, Ohio University

ZONE 6, REGION 2: Jennifer Hutson, Miami University of Ohio

ZONE 6, REGION 3: Ashley Delzer, Michigan State University

ZONE 7, REGION 1: Krystal Mack, New Mexico State University

ZONE 7, REGION 2: Bailey Mahoney, Oklahoma State University

ZONE 8, REGION 1: Sarah Willeman, Stanford University

ZONE 8, REGION 2: Sarah Titlow, Pepperdine University

ZONE 8, REGION 3: Meghan Sederholm, College of Southern Idaho

ZONE 8, REGION 4: Kaitlyn Kleck, University of Oregon

ZONE 9, REGION 1: Kelsey Ostberg, University of Notre Dame/St. Mary's College (IN)

ZONE 9, REGION 2: Casey Finnell, Kansas State University

ZONE 9, REGION 3: Stacey Helgren, University of Wisconsin at Madison