From Cherry Hill, New Jersey, New York University sophomore Juliana Goldlust poses with "Fred" after winning her novice flat at the Nassau Community College show on October 12th. Though they won only four blue ribbons all day, NYU still claimed high point team honors narrowly when the sun went down.

NYU PICKS UP FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON; EDGES ST. JOSEPH'S 35-34

Huntington, NY - They are the only team to score in the 30's each of the first two shows. They are the defending Region 4 Region Champions. And they are 35-34 winners over St. Joseph's College at the October 12th Nassau Community College show. They are the New York University Violets, blessed with four blue ribbons and four red ones on this day.

Rachel Kenion (novice fences), Juliana Goldlust (novice flat), Megan Johnston (walk-trot) and Amanda Fischer (intermediate fences) placed first in their respective divisions for NYU while Emily Maggiotta (novice fences), Alexandra Goldman (novice flat), Julie Kominski (walk-trot) and Ali Walker (open fences) received seconds. Walker earned nine points for the second Sunday in a row and is in third place in the Region 4 open rider standings, only four points from the top spot.

Alessandra Lyons (on left) and Casey Marino of Sacred Heart get ready to swap a pair of stirrups for one of their riders prior to section A of intermediate fences. Marino (on right) would win section B and eventually make up one-sixth of the ride-off for high point.

While NYU has shown consistancy through two contests, St. Joseph's seized the day after having scored only 14 points at the season opener. Blue ribbon winners for the Golden Eagles were Griffen Chumas (novice flat), Allison Diehl (beginner walk-trot-canter) and Melissa Bernstein (walk-trot). In addition Nicole Sottilo was second in her section of open flat. St. Joseph's scored 34 points without an intermediate fences rider and without a blue ribbon until Chumas broke through in the 17th class (out of 27) of the day.

Columbia inproved considerably on their October 5th effort, scoring 11 more points to earn 30 at Nassau. Kylie Tekulsky (open flat), Rachel Weinberger (beginner walk-trot-canter) and Elizabeth Whitman (walk-trot) won blue ribbons for the Lions. Tekulsky perhaps spent the most time on a horse of anyone entered at today's show, as the junior from Westhampton, New York was one of two riders to attempt the open course, suffer a series of refusals, then see the course changed (a fence was removed from the sequence). Following the revision to the course, Tekulsky again had three refusals, but this time the stewards agreed the horse was the issue. A third ride over fences produced a fifth place ribbon. Columbia finished third for the day and now sits in fourth place overall.

Fairfield had won the season opener at Good Shepherd Farm by three over Stony Brook, but on this day the Stags were tied for fourth. Competing without a walk-trot rider, Fairfield faired best in the novice flat division, where Kelly Burke, Lindsay Maroney and Catherine McIntyre were all winners. Heather Boyd was second in both novice flat and novice fences, while Marie Collins was second in intermediate fences.

Tied for fourth with Fairfield was C.W. Post. Leading the way for one of the two sets of Pioneers in Region 4 were Brittney Burreece, who was first in novice fences; Ashley Vaughan, who won her section of novice flat and Cara Faggione, who won her section of advanced walk-trot-canter. A sophomore from East Meadow, New York, Faggione accomplised the rare feat of winning every one of her five advanced walk-trot-canter classes dating back to last season, pointing into novice in the minimum five rides. C.W. Post deserves extra credit for scoring 27 points, as the Pioneers had no open flat or open fences rider entered at today's show.

Dowling College teammates Juliana Buckley (left) and Chelsea Soldner pose with Head Coach Sue Mercil (center) after placing 1-2 in the fourth section of novice fences. Buckley was one of three Dowling riders to win a class while Soldner earned two red ribbons. One of several schools without an open rider, the Golden Lions scored 16 points for the day.

While two schools scored 27 points, another two scored 26, one of which was Yale. The Bulldogs joined NYU and Columbia as the only schools present with a full point card. Yale started well, with Joker Arroyo second in the first section of open flat while Charlotte Morse won the third section a short time later. Arroyo then won her section of open fences, becoming one of six riders at today's show with a first and a second. Monique Wolfe, a freshman from San Diego, California, won her section of novice fences and later finished second to McIntyre to join teammate Arroyo in the ride-off (both McIntyre and Wolfe are from San Diego; Section 3B also featured Burreece, who traveled a great distance to attend college on the East Coast as well. Burreece is from Harlowton, Montana). Nicole Wolfe of Yale, who we don't think is related to Monique Wolfe, was second in her section of beginner walk-trot-canter.

Stony Brook could claim only one blue ribbon (and no walk-trot rider). Yet the Seawolves scored 26. Tara Devlin, a junior from Miller Place, New York rode in consecutive classes, finishing second to Morse in open flat then winning the first section of open fences (which took so long to complete thanks to the course revision). Though Devlin may have thought her day would be over quickly, she too had one more ride which took place roughly seven hours after her second one. Also earning red ribbons for Stony Brook were Melissa Heide in intermediate fences and Brittany White in beginner walk-trot-canter.

Sacred Heart scored 23 points without an open rider, with two members of the other set of Pioneers earning blue ribbons. Nicole D'Agostino won the first section of advanced walk-trot-canter while Casey Marino won the second section of intermediate fences. A junior from Andover, Massachusetts, Marino was also second to Maroney in intermediate flat to join the ride-off. It was to be Marino's second ride-off in as many weeks. Marino, who is undefeated in intermediate western horsemanship, won the ride-off for Reserve at the October 5th St. Joseph's show.

As had been the case with '27' and '26,' two teams scored 16 points. Hofstra can't have been too happy about this, as the Pride had scored 32 points to tie Stony Brook for Reserve High Point Team a week earlier. Yet another San Diego resident, in this case Hofstra sophomore Molly Collins, won the first undergraduate class of the day. Collins not only won her open flat she finished second to Devlin in open fences three classes later to qualify for the ride-off. Nitsan Ayali and Courtney Molloy were also red ribbon winners, with Ayali second to Burke in intermediate flat and Molloy second to D'Agostino in advanced walk-trot-canter. Hofstra was shorthanded at today's show, the only school entered without a novice flat or novice fences rider.

From Medford, New York, St. Joseph's College sophomore Melissa Bernstein (on left, with Head Coach Stephanie Rigert) won the first of three sections of walk-trot. Despite the lack of an intermediate fences rider, the Eagles went on to score 34 points, one less than high point team NYU.

Dowling College also scored 16 points, a slight improvement over the 14 they scored seven days earlier. Dowling had three riders in section 4D of novice fences, with two earning first and second. Juliana Buckley, a sophomore from Dix Hills, New York, won the section while teammate Chelsea Soldner earned the first of her two red ribbons and her highest jumping ribbon to date. Lauren Filiberto, a freshman from Lindenhurst, New York, won her first-ever IHSA blue ribbon in intermediate flat. This put Filiberto into the ride-off, as she had been second in section 4C of novice fences. Beginner walk-trot-canter rider Stephanie Hines was a blue ribbon winner later in the day.

The team which appeared most improved to this writer is Molloy College. The Lions (not to be confused with Dowling, who are the 'Golden Lions') have been very consistant, scoring 15 points at each show (if Molloy keeps this up they will have two more points than all of last season after five shows - Editor). One reason for the improvement is a bigger roster, as the Lions filled all but the intermediate fences division at today's show. Erika Krilov, a sophomore from Woodbury, New York, won her section of novice flat while Cynthia Sollin was second in another section of novice flat earlier.

This writer has been to six IHSA shows up to this point in the 2008-09 season and at four of them the host school has not had the sort of day they would like from a scoreboard standpoint. Nassau Community College hosted today's event at Sweet Hills Stables, and in the end the hosts scored nine points, half as many as a week earlier when St. Joseph's hosted (Without hosting responsibilities, St. Josephs went from 14 to 34 points). Hannah Geller, a sophomore from Sea Cliff, New York was second to Filiberto in the second section of intermediate flat to provide the highest ribbon of the day for Nassau.

From left to right are Charlotte Morse, Monique Wolfe, Head Coach Amanda Gerdts, Joker Arroyo and Jennie Nevin of Yale University. The Bulldogs were the only team with two riders qualified for the ride-off, which Wolfe won in only her second IHSA show. Coach Gerdts earned a few points in the saddle herself, the 2003 Salve Regina graduate placing third in alumni flat and fourth in alumni fences.

All they need are Dowling and Yale graduates: Ten of the 12 schools at today's show could claim at least one of their graduates was registered to compete in one of the alumni divisions (2008 NYU grad Stacy Schwartz was a scratch however). 24 riders (!) from 12 schools competed in three sections of alumni flat, with most also showing in one of two sections of alumni fences. 2003 Sacred Heart graduate Kristine Brackenridge won her alumni flat class for the second week in a row while Alexandra Schauble, who still attends Stony Brook but has used up her eight semesters of IHSA undergraduate eligibility, won her second consecutive alumni fences class. Schauble was also second in her section of alumni flat while 2008 Columbia graduate Diana Patterson was first in alumni flat and second in alumni fences. Though it did not happen at today's show, Region 4 may hold an alumni high point ride-off at future shows. Had this happened today, Schauble and Patterson would have ridden off for special ribbons which will be given to the top two alumni at each show.

There was one ride-off at today's show. Though Collins qualified for it, the Hofstra sophomore was under the weather and opted to leave before the final class of the day (which started at ten to six in the afternoon). This left Arroyo, Devlin, Filiberto, Marino and Wolfe to compete in the ride-off, which proved once again you should not assume the open rider will win. Though Devlin and Arroyo ended the day first and second overall in the Region 4 open rider standings, Wolfe prevailed in her first-ever IHSA ride-off while Marino captured reserve high point rider honors for the second time in as many Sundays.

Their first chances to 'Jog' and 'Lope:' Sacred Heart is not only the first New England school to compete in IHSA western shows the Pioneers are also the first New England school ever to host a western show in the Nutmeg/Constitution state. After having competed in a double western show hosted by the United States Military Academy on September 27th, Sacred Heart hosted the USMA, Centenary College and Stevens Institute of Technology at Hollow Hill Farm in Bethel, Connecticut on Friday, October 3rd. Brittany Beckwith, a freshman from Weathersfield, Connecticut who rides western only, won the only section of novice western on that day while Alyssa Woronik and Marino won sections of intermediate western. The Pioneers brought up the rear in the scoring, earning 19 to Stevens' 21, Centenarys' 28 and undefeated USMAs' 32. When one realizes that the Pioneers filled only three of six divisions on their point card 19 points suddenly looks very good. With only three teams from Zone 2, Region 1 joining Sacred Heart there is room for growth within western for this geographic area. Schools in Region 4 that are interested in forming a western team should contact USMA Head Coach Peter Cashman through the official IHSA web site (IHSAinc.com) and let him know they too want to hear the cries of walk, jog and lope!

--Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Sunny Skies, with temperatures reaching the mid '70's. Start time: 9:06AM. Finish: 6:03PM - includes 46 minute lunch break/Coaches & Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni classes held in this Region? Yes. Judge: Ms. Leslie Woodworth. Stewards: Gerrity/Molloy College, Milstein/Sacred Heart University and Kaczorowski/Molloy College alumni.

Team Totals: New York University (High Point Team) 35; St. Joseph's College (Reserve) 34; Columbia University 30; Long Island University - C.W. Post College 27; Fairfield University 27; Yale University 26; Stony Brook University 26; Sacred Heart University 23; Dowling College 16; Hofstra University 16; Molloy College 15 and Nassau Community College 9.

High Point Rider - Monique Wolfe, Yale University
Reserve High Point Rider - Casey Marino, Sacred Heart University