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AT LONG LAST! THE SEASON BEGINS... ...well, almost. The 2004-05 IHSA show season actually began last weekend, when Maryville College hosted a pair of hunter seat shows. This weekend sees the first stock seat shows and the Pre-Season Tournament of Champions in Storrs, Connecticut. Though the Pre-Season Tournament of Champions does not count in the standings, the show itself is a prestigious one, as most of the teams invited were either Region Champions in 2003-04 or among the top three teams in their respective regions. Stonehill College, the defending IHSA National Champions at the time, won the fall 2003 Pre-Season T of C, while Virginia Intermont College, which went on to win the 2004 hunter seat National Championship, was reserve. Though the invitational follows the IHSA post-season rule of one rider in each division from each team there are often schools that bring two squad's worth of competitors. An example would be Virginia Intermont, which named one of their teams the "Gold" team and the other the "Black" team at last season's T of C in Laurinburg, North Carolina. This season the defending national champs will likely have a black and a gold team trying to finish one-two, though with roughly 20 teams entered just about anything can happen. (The Pre-Season Tournament of Champions, hosted this season by the University of Connecticut, is a hunter seat - only horse show.) A most unusual situation exists in Zone 9, Region 3 this Saturday. If you ride both english and western, and you ride in this region, you must make a choice. Carleton College will host the first hunter seat show of the year in this region while defending Region 3 stock seat champions Wisconsin at River Falls host western shows Saturday and Sunday. Trouble is Carleton hosts in Minnesota while River Falls hosts in Wisconsin. A case of overlapping IHSA english and western shows in the same region is so rare that this writer is not sure he has ever seen it happen, at least involving two regular - season shows. The University of Findlay stock seat team will begin the hunt for a seventh consecutive Zone 6, Region 3 title when the oilers travel to Western Michigan for a double western show. Findlay is now three years removed from the amazing 2000-01 season, when both the english and western teams won their respective National Championships. This means that, save for anyone who may have taken a year off (and a few Coaches), no one is left who rode on those National Champion teams. Perhaps this season's group of oilers will walk, jog and lope their way to the National Championship. At least they will eat home cooking if they do (IHSA Nationals will be at Eden Park in Columbus, Ohio May 5th through 8th). If you think someone else is going all the way, see our separate "Question of the Week" segment on the Campus Equestrian home page. The University of Florida has been High Point Stock Seat Team in Zone 5, Region 3 two of the past four seasons. The gators will try to make it three out of five starting this Saturday at Wesleyan College. The other shows are all to be found in the Northeast, and are mostly hunter seat, and mostly Zone 3. As usual East Stroudsburg hosts the Zone 3, Region 4 season opener at Briarwood Farm in Readington, New Jersey, though on a Saturday instead of a Sunday for the first time. Kutztown won the region last season, though Bucknell and Lehigh were in it to the last day. On Sunday Gettysburg hosts in Region 2 while Penn State hosts in Region 3. Each of these regions produced teams that went to Nationals in 2003-04, with Delaware Valley advancing from the former and host Penn State winning Zone 3 Zones and advancing from the latter. Perhaps the most unusual event of the weekend will be at the United States Military Academy. The day begins with hunter seat rider evaluations and is followed by double western shows which should start around 1:30PM. USMA Coach Peter Cashman will preside over another of the day's events that is even more important, though the time of the event is uncertain. The late Jerry Mupo, who once coached Jersey City State to an IHSA National Championship in 1969-70 but is known more for his relationships with both USMA and Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo over the past 15 years, will have his last wish granted. Mupo, who past away over the summer, wanted his ashes sprinkled across the riding rings at Morgan Farm, where the USMA trains and hosts. "We will have Jerry with us always," says Cashman. If the events of Saturday and Sunday were not enough, there is a Monday show at St. Andrews in Laurinburg. Last season the hosts won on opening day, which meant for a few weeks that Virginia Intermont was in second place. Both St. Andrews and Virginia Intermont rarely if ever miss the opportunity to compete in a Tournament of Champions event, so it will be interesting to see if having to travel on Sunday wore either team out in the Zone 4, Region 3 season opener. ---Steve Maxwell
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Various
Regions Pre-Season Tournament of Champions (Host) at Horsebarn
Hill Arena, Storrs, CT 8:30AM ENGLISH ONLY
Zone 5,
Region 3 Wesleyan College (Host) on
campus at Wesleyan College Equestrian Center, Macon, GA 9:00AM 2 WESTERN ONLY