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CENTENARY COLLEGE PICKS UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF Readington, NJ - If you follow the Centenary College Cyclones on a regular basis it seems one season bleeds right into the next. Riders such as Katie Haley and Candice Schober seem like they won the last time everyone was at Briarwood and indeed they won again. Last names such as Cunnane, Klingenstein, Krecker, Kuder, Reich, Jonas and Williams seem as familiar as 'blue' and 'red' and 'ribbon.' And then there is the matter of checking the point sheets to see who the high point team is. The Cyclones are not called the Evil Empire without a good reason (well, the 'evil' part isn't really true. They are simply 'good'). Centenary College has won every possible hunter seat Region Title since the 1989-90 season. Not since the 2000-2001 season has the final regular season show of the year held any drama regarding which school would send a full hunter seat team to Zones. And with their latest win, a 45-26 victory over William Paterson University, everyone starts off trying to make up a healthy double-digit disadvantage to a Centenary team that has now won 27 of their last 31 regular season shows. This doesn't count two wins at three Zones shows or two IHSA National Championships in three tries during that time. Like it or not, you have to look around at these Centenary riders who might be standing along the rail and realize this is a program with as storied a history as anyone and yet their most recent seasons are the high point for the program. There were 29 undergraduate classes at today's event, and riders from the other nine schools present who showed in classes 5A, 3D, 2A-a, 2A-c and 1B must have felt a sense of relief knowing that there were no Centenary riders in their sections. However in the other 24 classes Centenary riders won 13 blue ribbons and 17 red ones, clearly distancing themselves from everyone else in both raw number of entries and riding ability.
Trying to track all the Centenary riders who made the top two on October 2nd is not unlike reading off names at a graduation ceremony. "We now present blue ribbons to the following students...Kelsey Bernini, in open fences...Nicole Cardinale, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Anthony DeSimone, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Vivian Disesa, in novice flat...Kayla Felstedt, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Angie Fiori, in open flat...Kathryn Haley, in open flat...Beth Jonas, in beginner walk-trot-canter...Natasha Klingenstein, with highest honors for winning both novice flat and intermediate fences...Cori Reich, in open flat...Candice Schober, with high honors for winning open fences and placing second in open flat...and Elizabeth Scovotti, with high honors for winning novice fences and placing second in novice flat. We now present red ribbons to the following students...Courtney Billings, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Christine Creque, with honors for earning red ribbons in both novice divisions...Brittany Cunnane, in open flat...Julia Gould, with honors for earning red ribbons in both novice divisions...Trevor Hawthorne, in intermediate fences...Cassidy Hoff, in novice flat...Brittany Howell, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Jenni Kuder, in open fences...Tyler Linde, in intermediate fences...Mandy Ohlandt, in advanced walk-trot-canter...Amy Priest, in walk-trot...Ellen Rauchbach, in open flat...and Brendan Williams in novice fences. We now confer high point team upon you all on this Sunday, October 2nd, 2011." Many of the aforementioned riders were competing in their first IHSA shows, including Hawthorne, Linde, Scovotti, Gould and DeSimone (we hope we didn't cause a commotion acting as if they were graduating as most just started their Centenary experience a month ago). Others such as Cardinale (a junior from Tom's River, New Jersey) rode at a certain level for the final time during the regular season, qualifying for Regionals and moving up into another division for next time. Perhaps the most sensational Centenary statistic of the day is how the open rider standings appear through one show. The top seven Region 3 riders all compete for the Cyclones, with only four points separating the group. The William Paterson Pioneers started the 2011-12 season taking reserve champion honors, surprisingly accomplishing this without Head Coach Hayley Rooney in attendance. Yasmeen Rasheed, a senior from Wayne, New Jersey won her walk-trot class for the Pioneers and qualified for Regionals in the process. William Paterson's ability to finish above eight others was even more impressive in that they were without an intermediate fences rider and no other entry besides Rasheed made the top two.
Though they were third overall with 23 points co-host Drew University was in many ways more impressive than William Paterson. The Rangers earned the first blue ribbon of the new season as Sarah Barbato won section A of open fences. A junior from Stockton, New Jersey, Barbato finished ahead of Kuder, Fiori, Samantha Whitley and Phoebe Hersh of Centenary in that section. In section B senior Haley Flagg was second to Bernini (but ahead of Haley, Cunnane and Nicole Mandracchia of the Cyclones) while Emma Richard was second to Schober in section C. The junior from Carlisle, Massachusetts who rode for the Volo Farm IEA team before enrolling at Drew finished ahead of Reich, Rauchbach and Ali Krecker of Centenary before finishing ahead of the entire field in section B of intermediate flat an hour later. The Rangers earned one more blue ribbon near the end of the day as Christine Felix triumphed in the second section of walk-trot. The junior from Titusville, New Jersey was one of two Drew riders to qualify for Regionals. Earlier Anne Daniels placed fourth in novice flat to earn a trip to the post-season in the division. The State University of New York at New Paltz had a full point card. Stevens Institute of Technology was three-fourths of the way there, lacking a rider for either open division. Nevertheless the Ducks and Hawks both scored 21 points on opening day. After going scoreless through the first three divisions (though at least one rider had placed) a pair of Stevens freshmen earned seconds in intermediate flat. Jessica Spanier (from Chester, New Jersey) was second in section A of intermediate flat while Carley Mattucci (from Lafayette, New Jersey) earned a red ribbon in section C. Three other Ducks riders earned thirds on a day when the Stevens roster was made up mostly of riders who were showing IHSA for the first time. With a roster of more returnees than newcommers, SUNY - New Paltz faired better than many in the blue ribbon department. Ashley Christiano, a junior coincidentally from New Paltz, New York won the first section of intermediate fences. Two freshmen later won classes in their first IHSA show for the Hawks. Lauren Theobald (from Bloomfield, New York) was a winner in novice flat while Abaigeal Flannery (from New York City) won the final class of the day in which a ribbon was awarded, the third section of beginner walk-trot-canter. Ariel Parker (in novice fences) and Deirdre Manzi (in novice flat) were red ribbon winners for New Paltz.
The United States Military Academy scored 18 points and finished with the second-most blue ribbons for the day with four. Caitey Steele, a junior from Madison, Georgia technically won consecutive undergraduate classes though there was an alumni division and a lunch break in between. Steele was a winner in intermediate flat and novice fences. Naomi Fuhrman, a junior from Aberdeen, South Dakota won her novice fences to give the Black Knights blues in half the novice jumping sections. Kat Knapp, a sophomore from Olympia, Washington won the first section of beginner walk-trot-canter. Morgan Proksch (in intermediate flat) and Stephanie Salmon (in the third and final section of beginner walk-trot-canter) won red ribbons for Army. Just as there had been a tie at 21 there were two schools who were deadlocked at 15. Pace University had fewer riders present than Marist College but the Setters point card was full. However Marist, sans an open rider, earned the most top-two ribbons. Whitney Viola, a senior from Madison, Connecticut won the first section of intermediate flat. Meghan Slavin, a sophomore from Middletown, New Jersey won the fourth of six novice flat sections to double the Red Foxes blue ribbon total. Emily Whalen was second in the middle section of beginner walk-trot-canter. Pace did not earn their lone flat ribbon until the 24th undergraduate class of the day when Hatsue Masuyama won her novice flat. A junior from Port Jervis, New York Masuyama qualified for Regionals with the first. Justina Edwards later earned a red ribbon for the Setters in the second section of walk-trot.
Like Stevens Institute, co-host Sarah Lawrence College's opening day roster was made up of more new riders than old ones. Riders from the Golden State faired best for the Gryphons. Rachel Surtshin (pronouned "Serchin'") won her IHSA debut. The freshman from Davis, California earned Sarah Lawrence's first blue ribbon of the year in novice fences and later placed second in novice flat. Aya Matsumoto, a senior from Los Angeles who was abroad in 2010-11 returned with a first in novice flat. Hampered slightly without a rider in open fences or intermediate flat the Gryphons finished the day with 12 points. Rounding out the scoring was Bard College. Otto Berkes, a junior from Seattle, Washington earned four of Bard's six points with a third in the open fences class which started the day. Senior Elizabeth Falcone was fifth in intermediate flat to earn the remaining two. For the first time since the region was re-named Zone 3, Region 3 prior to the 2010-11 season there were hunter seat alumni classes held at a Region 3 show. 2011 Drew University graduate Rachel Denning won both divisions. Denning, who is also the Region 3 alumni rep, finished one spot ahead of SUNY - New Paltz graduate Amanda Bender in alumni flat and one spot in front of Bender's former teammate Brooke Bologna in alumni fences. All three riders are 2011 graduates, making this the youngest group of alumni anywhere in the IHSA at the moment. No ride-offs here: Since taking the Zone 3, Region 3 name there have been no ride-offs as the powers that be in Region 3 would prefer to rest the horses at the end of what is usually a long day. Klingenstein and Steele were the only riders with two firsts, and a question-and-answer session with Judge Ron Smith put the high point rider ribbon in Klingenstein's hands. For much of the day Steele had high point to herself, as there was a gap of 21 undergraduate classes between Klingenstein's win in intermediate fences and her late day novice flat win in section 3F of the division.
Kudos to the Gryphons in the office for running things so well: Several members of the Sarah Lawrence team spent much of the day updating the point sheets and getting ribbons out to those who had won them. Compared to the other shows this writer had attended through October 9th this was one of the most well-run. A specific mention is deserved for Juli Janis of the Gryphons, who was the runner for much of the day. Janis wasted no time getting the Judge's cards to the office after the results had been announced. If you missed something and wanted to know what was going on one needed only to visit the Briarwood office for about 60 seconds and all the answers would be available. A visitor from the Midwest: Xavier University of Ohio Head Coach and IHSA National Secretary Jim Arrigon was on-hand for the middle part of the show. Arrigon was in the area, having conducted one of his Equestrian Talent Searches at Delaware Valley College a day earlier. Originally the ETS was to end on Sunday afternoon. However with a smaller than expected turnout Arrigon shortened the event to end Saturday evening. Having already booked a flight back to the Cincinnati area on Sunday afternoon Arrigon asked this writer if there was an IHSA show in the area he could attend. This will not be Arrigon's only appearance in New Jersey this fall. The 20th Anniversary Tournament of Champions event will be at Centenary College on Saturday, December 3rd, an event that Arrigon created. This will be the fifth time Centenary will have hosted the event. While four of those occasions are fairly recent (2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011), the 1992 event was the only one staged in Centenary's original indoor (now sometimes referred to as the upper ring). ---Steve Maxwell Show Incidentals: Overcast skies, with temperatures reaching the low '60's. Most of the show held outdoors. Start time: 8:55AM. Finish: 4:51PM - Includes a 30 minute lunch break/Coaches & Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Ron Smith. Stewards: Dowling/Centenary College; P. Cashman/United States Military Academy; Miller/Pace University and Lisa Frey/Mount Holyoke College involved with Briarwood Farm. Hunter Seat Team Totals: Centenary College (High Point Team) 45; William Paterson University (Reserve) 26; Drew University 23; Stevens Institute of Technology 21; State University of New York at New Paltz 21; United States Military Academy 18; Marist College 15; Pace University 15; Sarah Lawrence College 12 and Bard College 6. High Point Rider - Natashia Klingenstein, Centenary College
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