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VERMONT WINS BIG Williston, VT (10/19/03) - One day after briefly falling into second place behind Dartmouth, the University of Vermont just missed out on a perfect score, winning with 47 points and re-taking the lead by an eight point margin over the big green while hosting on October 19th. The cattamounts had both the high point rider in John Pigott and reserve high point rider in Liz Austin. Riding for the first time in their brand-new ring, Vermont won three of the first four classes and nine out of 23 for the day. Six of the nine pointed cattamount riders won their classes while two others were reserve. Pigott, who had not placed over fences at Dartmouth on Saturday, entered Sunday's show with only ten points. The junior from Newport, RI reverted to IHSA Nationals form, winning both of his classes and averting a ride-off as no one else went two-for-two on the day. Some may be surprised that defending National Champion open rider Pigott is only fourth in the region 2 Cacchione standings through three shows. The good news for Vermont fans is that Pigott is only four points off the lead. Besides Pigott and Austin, other Vermont riders to win a blue ribbon were Samantha Talbot (intermediate fences), Ashley Miller (novice fences), Kim Petritz (open flat), Amber Bennett (novice flat), Sarah James (beginner walk-trot-canter) and Katie Bengston (walk-trot). Colby-Sawyer may not have won a jumping class, but the team from New London, NH was able to win five flat classes and finish with 36 points and reserve honors for the day. Ally Titcomb and Jody Moore won separate sections of intermediate flat while Jenna Zaccarino, Emily Holt and Megan Neth swept the advanced walk-trot-canter division. Head Coach Pam Payson's chargers have managed to stay in the race without having won a show as of yet, as Colby-Sawyer trails Vermont by 16 and Dartmouth by eight headed into the November 9th University of New Hampshire show. The statistic of "most blue ribbons" can be a deceiving one, as Dartmouth proved on Sunday. The Big green had been big winners on Saturday while hosting at Morton Farm. Fresh from a 32-point first place performance, Dartmouth won only one blue ribbon on Sunday, when Mitzi Huang placed first in her walk-trot class late in the show. However the big green still earned 29 points, only three fewer than the day before, and trail Vermont by only eight through three shows. One of the impressive new Dartmouth riders has been Tim Malone, who leads the region's Cacchione standings with 28 points. Malone was one of four Dartmouth riders with a second-place ribbon (won in open flat) while Sarah Taylor-Smith earned a reserve ribbon in each of her intermediate classes. In contrast Mount Ida was first on five occasions, but ended up with 27 points. Sharyn Flora and Sarah Levins both won novice fences classes for the mustangs while Heather Paulson and Pam McCarthy did likewise in intermediate flat. Algeria Pierce (in novice flat) won the fifth blue ribbon for Mount Ida. The mustangs, who were reserve high point team in Region 2 last season, have managed at least five blue ribbons in each of the first three shows, so a big comeback is definitely within reason. The University of New Hampshire wildcats were a team of only two riders as recently as three seasons ago. Today the wildcats have more than one individual in every division! Freshman open rider Kim Cassidy will always have the honor of being first to win a class in the new outdoor ring at Imajica, which was only finished about three days before the show itself. Cassidy was a winner over open fences while three other wildcats were reserve ribbon winners. Fair share: Bates College had only two riders entered in today's show, yet each earned the exact same number of points, both with eight. Open rider Christina Dove was first on the flat and sixth over fences. Novice rider Jeanethe Falvey was first on the flat and sixth over fences. If Bates could fill a card and everyone did this, the bobcats would have 31 points each week! More accolades to go around: Caroline Stauffer (open fences) and Britt Neuhaus (novice fences) both earned reserve ribbons for Middlebury. Anne Jennings (intermediate flat) and Kara Peitroski (advanced walk-trot-canter) both earned reserve ribbons for the University of Maine at Orono. Elspeth Faiman was the one-woman Bowdoin team today, with a fifth in advanced walk-trot-canter. Unusual history (perhaps): Though we at Campus Equestrian are trying to determine if it ever happened before, class 6B may have been the first time an IHSA regular season class was held where two riders in the same section from different teams could claim their Mother was their Head Coach! University of Vermont sophomore Liz Austin, who has a dressage background and does not normally jump in IHSA shows, rode against Colby-Sawyer sophomore Rebecca Payson in intermediate flat. When it was over, University of Vermont Head Coach Madeleine Austin could claim her daughter had won her first blue ribbon in an IHSA jumping class. Colby-Sawyer Coach Pam Payson's daughter Rebecca was third, with teammate Moore second. The younger Austin later finished second to Pigott in section 7A of open flat and won a three-way ride-off (with teammate Talbot and the charger's Moore) for reserve high point rider. Between the Vermont show and the New Hampshire show scheduled for November 9th, Austin was a winner outside the IHSA ring. Competing on her dressage horse Hierarch, Austin won a blue ribbon in the Continental Cup Team Competition at the National Horse Show in New York City on October 29th. At least they didn't go out trick-or-treating as invisible pedestrians!: The Dartmouth big green always seem to entertain. With halloween less than two weeks away, each big green rider who placed third or higher was instructed to wear a knight's costume similar to those worn circa 900-1000A.D. until another big green rider also placed third or higher. Then that rider would wear the knight's outfit. No Dartmouth riders finished above fourth until the novice fences, when Taylor-Smith was second and put on the attire (which did not come with a sword). Two classes later it was John Olsen's turn. Olsen not only placed second, he did so in the last class before lunch break, which meant he was dressed as the knight for over an hour before Malone had his turn. Malone only had to wait two classes for Taylor-Smith to earn another second and free him from the purple and gray outfit. Elyssa Gelmann was next, second in the third section of intermediate flat. Quite some time later, Ashley Hannebrink was third in novice flat. This author is not sure if the walk-trot and advanced walk-trot-canter riders had to endure the costume. If they did then Janelle Moerlein (third in advanced walk-trot-canter) and Huang would have been next. What did the costume signify? "We went to Wal-Mart and bought the only costume we could find that was one size fits all," said an unidentified Dartmouth open rider. ---Steve Maxwell Show Incidentals: High Temperature in the mid 50's. Mostly sunny and windy. Start time: 9:22AM. Finish: 2:31PM - includes 45 minute lunch break/coaches & captains meeting. Point Cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? No. Judge: Irving Evans. Stewards: Payson/Colby-Sawyer, Reed/Mount Ida College and Selby/Middlebury College. Team Totals: University of Vermont (High Point Team) 47; Colby-Sawyer College (Reserve) 36; Dartmouth College 29; Mount Ida College 27; University of New Hampshire 22; Middlebury College 19; University of Maine 16, Bates College 16 and Bowdoin College 2. High Point Rider - John Pigott, University of Vermont
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