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KUTZTOWN BREAKS 30 AGAIN, TAKES OVER FIRST PLACE Readington, NJ - After three shows had taken place, Kutztown University was averaging 22 points a show, not bad but only good enough for fourth place at that time. The good news for the Golden Bears is that no one was averaging even 28 points per show, in part because no one seemed to be able to consistantly pick the correct point riders. Through three shows only one team had even scored 30 points at a show, when Rutgers won on October 7th with 34. On November 4th Kutztown improved mightily on the scoreboard, posting the region's highest score of the season so far with 38 points. At today's show, the Golden Bears again broke 30, winning with 32 and moving seven points ahead of Princeton for the Region lead. Andrea Heinzman, a freshman from Cochranville, Pennsylvania won both her intermediate flat and novice fences classes for Kutztown. Teammate Heather Mayer, a junior from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, won both of her novice classes. Laura Vandergrift (intermediate fences), Allison Brewer (novice flat) and Sarah Pennypacker (same) also won blue ribbons for Kutztown. The Golden Bears swept all three novice fences sections while Heinzman & Mayer made up two-thirds of the ride-off. The third member of the ride-off was the suddenly-hot Jill Douglass of Lehigh University. After a second in open fences early on in the November 4th Rutgers show, Douglass won three consecutive open classes over two shows to move within six points of teammate Jess Engle for the lead within the Region 4 Cacchione/Open Rider Standings. Engle however only gave back two points today, winning her open flat class while placing second in open fences.
Lehigh was eventually declared reserve high point team with 24 points. The Mountain Hawks trail Kutztown by eleven and Princeton by four headed into the recently-added all-region show at Hickory Run on November 19th. The Tigers finished third with 21 points. Grace Clawater (open fences), Amy Maletz (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Jennifer Johnson (walk-trot) were winners for Princeton. Johnson's blue ribbon was one of the bigger surprises, as the senior from Kit Carson, Colorado was riding in her first horse show of any kind! East Stroudsburg was the fourth and final team to reach 20 points, scoring exactly that much. The highlight of the day for ESU was nearly sweeping the intermediate flat. Emily Johnson won the first section while Lauren Nelson followed with a blue ribbon shortly thereafter. Melissa Tsounikas was second to Heinzman in the third and final section. East Stroudsburg scored their 20 points at a disadvantage, competing without riders in either open division or the walk-trot at today's show. Lafayette College dodged a bullet, scoring only 17 points but ending the day only 13 points behind Kutztown. Elanna Spiegel and Anna Schaefer won sections of advanced walk-trot-canter for the Leopards while Sarah Filone and Ashley Sanders did likewise in novice flat. It was the second blue ribbon and first on the flat for Sanders, a junior from Newtown, Pennsylvania who was a member of the Lafayette track team. Rutgers scored 16 points and at one point earned three blue ribbons in a row. Caitlin Belding won her section of advanced walk-trot-canter. Then Michelle Welsh won her novice flat a short time later. Bridget Lang then proceeded to win the section of advanced walk-trot-canter that followed Welsh's class. Nicole Fiorellino won later in the day as well, earning the blue ribbon for the Scarlet Knights in the lone section of beginner walk-trot-canter.
Rounding out the scoring were Bloomsburg with twelve, Scranton with nine, Moravian with eight, co-host Cedar Crest with five and co-host Wilkes making their 2006-07 debut but not able to put points on the scoreboard. Though none of these teams earned a blue ribbon, all five earned at least one red, second place ribbon. Ellie Murdoch of Moravian was second over the intermediate fences while Krista Schult of Scranton was second in her section of novice flat. Lauren Bartholomew of co-host Cedar Crest was also a red ribbon winner in novice flat while Andrea Calhoun has the finest Wilkes ribbon so far this season, placing second in advanced walk-trot-canter. Bloomsburg was twice the recipient of red ribbons, as Brittany Zaleski was second to Douglass in open flat while Mallory Eroh was second to Lang in advanced walk-trot-canter. Phillips finally wins twice: 1989 Virginia Intermont graduate and Princeton Head Coach Ashton Phillips had won one of two alumni classes at each of the first four shows but on no occasion had he won twice. Phillips put an end to that streak, earning the blue in both alumni flat and fences. Kutztown graduates won the red ribbons, as Abby Tymchak was second on the flat while Leah Moyer did likewise over fences. Lafayette alum Erin Githens was third in both classes. Crowded Maiden Field: Though it is not an official class, eleven riders took part in the Maiden cross rails division. The purpose of the Maiden division is to give riders who have never jumped in a show the chance to give it a try. The entire course is made up solely of cross-rails, with most of the jumps being repeated. Amanda Pierson of Kutztown won the division, which is currently not held in any of the other 29 IHSA regions as far as we can tell. Perhaps they should have played the lottery: With Region 4 now posting a scoreboard that is filled in following the completion of a division, it became obvious that no one had a clue who to point in the first division of the day, open fences. Lehigh and Kutztown had five riders in the division, Princeton four, Lafayette, Rutgers and Moravian two and Bloomsburg one. Though Douglass and Clawater won, neither were pointed. In fact only Zaleski earned any points for her team, earning a fifth and giving Bloomsburg a two-nothing lead on the rest of the field, if only temporarily. The ride-off: Though Douglass has ridden at the open level since day one on the Lehigh team, the 2004 runner-up at Nationals for the Cacchione Cup was third in the ride-off. Though Heinzman had a non-riding-related mishap between classes (which forced her to change into different clothes for the ride-off), she still moved up one placing from her ride-off eight days earlier to capture High Point Rider honors. Meyer was second, giving Kutztown the reserve rider for the day as well. The Judge has been there & done that: It is not rare to find a Judge who once coached in the IHSA, but to find one judging a show co-hosted by the team she once coached is. Amy Barini, who has judged IHSA shows in Zone 3, Region 2 on occasion, made her Region 4 judging debut today. Barini coached Cedar Crest from perhaps 1999 through the 2002-03 season. Save for a few alumni riders, no one entered in today's show had ever competed in an IHSA show with Barini in either the judge's chair or near the in-gate. And most present felt the placings were pretty accurate. If we at Campus Equestrian ever write a follow-up to our 2005 recommended judges piece we will likely include Barini and two others who have impressed us lately. --Steve Maxwell Show Incidentals: Mostly sunny skies, with temperatures in the mid '50's. Start time: 8:32AM. Finish: 3:00PM - includes 30 minute lunch break/Coaches & Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? No. Alumni classes held in this Region? Yes. Judge: Amy Barini. Stewards: Clark/Lafayette College, Fiorot/Moravian College and Lamont-Francfort/Rutgers University. Team Totals: Kutztown University (High Point Team) 32; Lehigh University (Reserve) 24; Princeton University 21; East Stroudsburg University 20; Lafayette College 17; Rutgers University 16; Bloomsburg University 12; University of Scranton 9; Moravian College 8; Cedar Crest College 5 and Wilkes University 0. High Point Rider - Andrea Heinzman, Kutztown University
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