Five Rutgers University riders were red ribbon winners on March 23rd including Amanda Immidisetti (on right) in advanced walk-trot-canter. Rutgers head coach Kelly Francfort (on left) closed out the season with a win while the Scarlet Knights were Region 4 reserve champion team for the 2013-14 season.

SCARLET KNIGHTS WIN REGULAR SEASON FINALE; LEOPARDS TAKE FULL TEAM TO ZONES

Newtown, PA - For the first time this decade Hickory Run Farm played host to a Zone 3, Region 4 show. Owned by Penny Silcox, who coaches Bucks County Community College in Zone 3, Region 2, only a few alumni (some, such as former Kutztown rider Jess Benner, were only there to school horses) could remember having ridden there around 2009.

The first show at Hickory Run was also the 2013-14 regular season finale for Region 4. This particular region, which was formed mostly from Zone 3, Region 2 in mid-2001, set a Region Record by showing at nine different faclities over ten shows (this was mostly due to the demise of the Readington, NJ version of Briarwood Farm which was the site for a Region 4 show once, on opening day).

And at the tenth and final show of the season Rutgers University won the battle by a 32-26 score over Lafayette. However for the full season Lafayette College won the war, earning their first region title since the 2010-11 season and their fourth in program history.

Leading the way for Rutgers on this day was open rider Gwen Campbell, who placed first over fences to start the day and later was second on the flat. Campbell was one of two riders who would qualify for the ride-off. Finishing one place ahead of Campbell in open flat was teammate Michelle Retkwa. Sara Hankins (in novice flat) and Ann Stzelczyk (in advanced walk-trot-canter) also won blue ribbons while Elizabeth Van Embden (in open flat), Lauren Blaha (open fences), Kelsey Stecklow (intermediate flat) and Amanda Immidisetti (in advanced walk-trot-canter) were red ribbon winners for the Scarlet Knights.

A freshman from Marlboro, New Jersey, Danielle Wolff of Lafayette College (on right) won her novice fences to help Lafayette College score 26 points for reserve high point team honors. Leopards coach Erin Githens (on left) guided Lafayette to their first region title since 2011, snapping Rutgers' run of titles at two.

Rutgers entered the day trailing Lafayette 311-281 meaning if the Leopards scored 20 points the Scarlet Knights would have been unable to catch them even with a perfect 49. Lafayette scored 26 with both Rebekah Scharfe (in open flat) and Danielle Wolff (in novice fences) winning classes. Scharfe earned nine points for the day and finished the season ten points ahead of Campbell for the right to represent Region 4 at Nationals in the Cacchione Cup Competition. Two seasons ago as a freshman Scharfe also accomplished this feat. Olivia Lewis (in novice fences), Olivia Anderson (in advanced walk-trot-canter), Jennifer Barnes (in beginner walk-trot-canter) and Samantha Bocilius (in walk-trot) finished second in their respective classes for the Leopards. Both Barnes and Bocilius did so in the only sections of their divisions offered on this day.

Without the benefit of a walk-trot rider on their point card Bloomsburg University finished third for the day with 22 points and third in the region overall for 2013-14 which appears to be a new high for the program. The planets lined up for Bloomsburg with seven classes to go, as Jess Fornara (in beginner walk-trot-canter) and Kim Fiedler (in intermediate flat) won the only two blue ribbons of the day and did so in consecutive classes. Katie Shoop (in intermediate fences) and Ashley Rivera (in novice flat) won red ribbons for the Huskies, which finished the season with 209 points.

East Stroudsburg University finished the season in fourth place with 196 points and were one of two teams with 21 points on March 23rd. The Warriors were led by Lindsey Capps, who won the first section of advanced walk-trot-canter, and Christine Dennis, who won the only section of walk-trot. Surprisingly Capps and Dennis were the only ESU riders to place inside the top two, though Cayle Gilligan (in novice flat), Haley Weisenfluh (in intermediate flat) and Rebecca Connolly (in open fences) were yellow ribbon winners.

It was the final show for Lehigh senior Signe Hoover (on left) and the final regular season show for senior teammate Rachel Giampa (on right). From Copenhagen, Denmark Hoover went out with a first in intermediate flat while earlier Giampa (from Warrenton, Virginia) was second in intermediate fences.

Lehigh University tied East Stroudsburg for the day with 21 points though the Mountain Hawks finished 11 points behind the Warriors for the season. Kayla Stroz (in novice fences), Signe Hoover (in intermediate flat) and Rachel Keller (in novice flat) each won a blue ribbon for the Mountain Hawks, who were one of several teams without a walk-trot rider on their card. With this being the final show of the regular season and with some limits due to horse availability Lehigh was one of a few teams to put mostly seniors into the lineup today, with both Stroz and Hoover among them. In addition senior Rachel Giampa was second in intermediate fences for Lehigh's only red ribbon of the day.

DeSales University, which has yet to fill a point card in program history, had four riders entered across five divisions. Still Desales scored a healthy 19 points, with sophomore Lauren Larkin winning intermediate fences and freshman Shayna Berretta winning novice flat as the highlights. Berretta was also third in novice fences which kept her in the running for reserve high point rider until the final class of the day when a second rider had 12 points.

Though they did not have an open rider entered, nor did they win any undergraduate classes, Moravian College scored 18 points. The Greyhounds were led by Stephanie Dengler, whose second in the final novice flat class turned out to be Moravian's best ribbon of the day. Until that point Macaire Kolchin (in intermediate fences), Becca Zabel (in intermediate flat) and Monica Perone (in beginner walk-trot-canter) each had Moravian's best ribbon with a third.

Considering that Princeton University had only three riders on the Hickory Run Farm premises the fact that the Tigers scored 17 points was bordering on remarkable. Filling only four divisions, two Princeton riders were blue ribbon winners. It was only the second IHSA show ever for Marina Macklin yet she won her novice fences class made up of nine riders. Earlier Melissa Fagan had finished second to Wolff in novice fences. The final novice flat class (also the final official class of the day) went to Fagan which created a tie for high point with Campbell and a ride-off for high point moments later.

Again a photo of two seniors and again one is done and the other is scheduled to ride once at Regionals. From left to right are Alyssa Piccoli, Kutztown head coach Sue Casale and Alexa MacCartney. Though Piccoli did not qualify for Regionals she did finish tied for third in the Region 4 hunter seat open rider standings. MacCartney was second in intermediate flat in her final regular season undergraduate ride.

Kutztown University was without a walk-trot rider and finished with 13 points. One of two teams coached by Sue Casale (the other being DeSales) the Golden Bears were led by senior Alexa MacCartney, who was second in her intermediate flat. Emily Sequine was nearly as good, placing third in advanced walk-trot-canter.

Due to the fact that they were on Spring Break (which perhaps did not make them unique today) the University of Scranton was without several riders who normally compete. As a result the Royals tied Kutztown at 13 points. Novice rider Natalie Movsesian had as good a day as just about anyone, placing second twice. Ashley Gyarmarty was second in intermediate fences while Alyssa Rodemann was second in novice flat. Scranton filled five of eight divisions in spite of the scheduled break.

Rounding out the scoring was a two-person Cedar Crest College team (normally the Falcons have three or four riders present). CCC did not earn any team points though Jacquelyn Deigert was fourth in beginner walk-trot-canter.

Though turnout for Region 4 alumni has been among the best in the nation in 2013-14 there were only eight riders in each of the alumni classes (often both alumni divisions are split into two sections at Region 4 shows). Moravian College graduate Kelly Jones won the alumni fences while Siena College graduate Carolynn Mulder won the alumni flat. Second to Mulder was Rutgers graduate Trista Kuna, who has known Mulder since they were in grade school. Mulder finished the season with 55 flat points, the most of any Region 4 alumni rider and an average of better than five and a half points per ride. The reserve champion over fences was 2007 Dartmouth graduate Tim Malone, who finished with 39 points over fences (which ranked second in the region to Rutgers grad Caitlin Doran's 46) and 38 on the flat (third behind Mulder and Virginia Intermont College alumni/current Princeton coach Ashton Phillips with 42). Though he did not know it at the time Malone would be the 2014 recipient of the Zone 3, Region 4 newcomer of the year award as he had the most points of anyone completely new to Zone 3, Region 4 this season.

From San Diego, California, Princeton University freshman Melissa Fagan participated in her fourth ride-off or "question-off" during the 2013-14 season. On March 23rd Fagan (pictured) won an actual ride-off for high point for the first time.

Just spell it funetically: With the entire region acting as co-hosts the posted point sheets did not list a host school but rather "Regional Effort" on most of the sheets in place of the host's name. However on 50 percent of the sheets the printed word was "Regional Effert"! It is unclear how this happened since it was not handwritten but for the record the correct spelling is "Effort" and the typo does not affect the outcome of the show.

A good day to be from Warrenton, Virginia: Located Southwest of Washington, DC, the town of Warrenton, Virginia placed two of its' residents inside the top two. First Giampa of Lehigh was second in intermediate fences while Macklin of Princeton won her novice fences. If anyone else was from Warrenton let them speak now or hold their peace until the next show.

The Ride-Off: Going into the final class it was looking good that Campbell's 12 points would make her high point rider while there was the possibility of several riders having a first and a third for 11. However anyone with 11 points was off the hook moments later when Fagan won the novice flat (more than one coach said we were headed for a ride-off before Fagan had finished her ride). Campbell and Fagan then went back in for a hack-off which after less than four minutes saw the latter - a novice rider (close to pointing out in at least one of the two divisions) - win over the former, who was neck-and-neck for the Cacchione at one point. This was the first time Fagan won a ride-off for high point, having won a ride-off for reserve on opening day and winning two 'question-offs' in lieu of a ride-off in between. It was noteworthy that the ride-off lasted less than five minutes in that many of the question-offs designed to shorten the end of the show take longer.

--Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: overcast skies, with temperatures rising into the low 50's. Start time: 9:13AM. Finish: 2:23PM - includes two schooling breaks/Coaches & Captains meeting totaling 64 minutes. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni classes held in this Region? Yes. Judge: Abbe Wolfe. Stewards: Casale/Kutztown University, Githens/Lafayette College and Brittain/Moravian College.

Team Totals: Rutgers University (High Point Team) 32; Lafayette College (Reserve) 26; Bloomsburg University 22; East Stroudsburg University 21; Lehigh University 21; DeSales University 19; Moravian College 18; Princeton University 17; University of Scranton 13; Kutztown University 13 and Cedar Crest College 0.

High Point Rider - Melissa Fagan, Princeton University
Reserve High Point Rider - Gwen Campbell, Rutgers University