Amy Maletz of Princeton (fourth on right in hunt coat, with many teammates) placed second in the last class of the day, which was the fourth section of advanced walk-trot-canter. Maletz's red ribbon lifted the Tigers to first place, both for the day and overall.

THIS WEEK, IT WAS PRINCETON'S TURN

Readington, NJ - On October 1st Lafayette was the winner by a narrow 29-27 margin over Princeton. Then on October 7th Rutgers scored 34 points, so far the high total for any Region 4 team this season, taming the Tigers by six.

Then on October 13th it was Princeton's turn. In what was yet another low-scoring affair, Princeton continued their upward trend, scoring 29 points to beat Lafayette by a point. Grace Clawater (open fences), Allison Harding (intermediate flat) and Shayla Mulvey (novice fences) were blue ribbon winners for the Tigers while four other Princeton riders took second place ribbons, including advanced walk-trot-canter rider Amy Maletz in the last official class of the day to lift the Tigers into first.

Princeton also narrowly took the overall lead in points, moving three points ahead of Lafayette. The Tigers are now in first place for the first time since last season, when Princeton moved ahead for good at the second show of 2005-06 and eventually took a full team to Zones for the first time.

Lafayette has been nearly as good as Princeton through the early going, and until the final class of the day were apparently in first place. Elanna Spiegel and Emily Esteve won separate sections of the advanced walk-trot-canter while Ashley Tolomer won the only section of walk-trot held during today's show. Though not an official class, Brie Brown also earned a blue ribbon in the maiden fences division. Strangly enough the Leopards claimed second for the day without a single undergraduate red ribbon, though three riders came in third.

Lehigh did very well early on and claimed third place overall for the day with 25 points. Perri Silverstein (novice fences), Jill Douglass (open flat), Jess Engle (same) and Jessica Herlihy (intermediate flat and open fences) earned the five Mountain Hawk blue ribbons. Herlihy, who will be Captain of the Lehigh team next season, was riding at the open level over fences for only the second time. The sophomore from Middletown, New Jersey was one of two riders to qualify for the ride-off. Meanwhile Engle's 12 points moved her into the lead within the Region 4 Cacchione/Open Rider Standings with 26 points overall.

'Monte' poses with Jessica Herlihy of Lehigh after the two teamed up for some walking, trotting and cantering in the intermediate flat. Herlihy's ride on Monte produced her second blue ribbon of the day. The sophomore would eventually earn reserve high point rider honors.

In spite of blanks on their point card in the walk-trot and open fences level the East Stroudsburg Warriors tied for fourth with 21 points and even tallied as many blue ribbons as Princeton. Dana Clauser won her novice flat while Lauren Nelson was a winner twice at the intermediate level. The sophomore from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania was the only rider besides Herlihy to win twice at today's show. The Warriors have been fairly consistant early on, scoring 20, 17 and now 21 through three shows. If they can fill their point card in the near future a shot at high point team for a given day is not out of the question.

Kutztown also scored 21, with Laura Vandergrift winning her open fences and Marietta Dooley victorious in advanced walk-trot-canter. Open rider Lauren Casale was second twice, moving to within six points of the Region 4 lead in the Cacchione/Open Rider Standings. Megan Lissi, who held the Cacchione lead through two shows, had an off-day but remains within four of Engle. Lissi will graduate in December, essentially giving her no chance to actually represent the region at Nationals in the Cacchione competition. Yet it should be noted that Lissi's recent stint on top of the Region 4 open rider standings made her one of a small few to ever lead a Cacchione race after having made her IHSA debut at the advanced walk-trot-canter level several seasons earlier!

Moravian College scored 17 points without a rider below the novice level. Dana Bucholz won the final class of the day (advanced walk-trot-canter) to give the Greyhounds their lone blue ribbon. However early in the day Victoria Kresh placed second in both of her intermediate classes. Through three shows Kresh has yet to place below fifth in any of her classes and has placed second or higher three times.

Brie Brown (left) and Ashley Tolomer of Lafayette both won blue ribbons. While Tolomer was first in walk-trot, Brown won the unofficial Maiden Crossrails division. This division, which is held only in a very small number of regions, allows riders who are not necessarily ready for the novice fences the chance to jump a few 'X's.

Rutgers uncharacteristically scored only 13 points. Nicole Fiorellino scored the lone blue ribbon of the day for the Scarlet Knights, winning the only section of beginner walk-trot-canter. Rutgers is still very much in the team race, third overall and eleven behind Princeton with up to seven shows still ahead.

Rounding out the scoring was Bloomsburg with 12, Cedar Crest with 9 and the University of Scranton with 8. Bloomsburg was the only team without a blue ribbon on this day. The Huskies best placing was fourth, earned by Brittany Zaleski in open flat, Lindsay Levin in intermediate fences and Amanda McCollin in novice fences. Lauren Forsyth of Cedar Crest won her section of intermediate fences while Scranton riders won three of four novice flat classes. Michelle Geise, Krista Schult and Chante Argenti all won novice flat classes for the Royals, a team made up entirely of riders who joined up this Fall.

Royal alumni take part: While Scranton has no hold-overs from last season on their undergraduate roster, two Royal alumni competed for the first time this season. Jen Cours, who had been practicing, won the alumni fences while Sabrina King, who admitted to not having practiced all that much, was still fourth. Erin Githens of Lafayette finished second in both alumni divisions while Princeton Head Coach/Virginia Intermont graduate Ashton Phillips was first in alumni flat and third over fences. King moved up to third on the flat while Cours was fourth. Abby Tymchak was the lone Kutztown graduate in the alumni classes, earning fifth in both tries.

The ride-off: Despite currently being intermediate-only, Nelson was declared high point rider over Herlihy in the eyes of Judge Pat Byrne. Three schools in as many shows can claim a high point rider, as Engle won the opening day ride-off for Lehigh while Katie McDonough of Lafayette won on October 7th.

Riders from the 'No-Ho district' turn up on East Coast: One of the riders who schools the Briarwood horses prior to shows involving regions other than Zone 2, Region 1 is Drew University open rider Sam Wasson. Wasson went to high school in Southern California with Princeton freshman Meredith Bock, who was competing for the second time at today's show. Both attended the Oakwood School in North Hollywood, California, which Bocks' mother said is located in what is known as the 'No-Ho Arts District!' Though not a high school classmate of either, Lafayette open rider Emily Mallory competed against Wasson growing up, and was also at today's show chatting with the two of them. Mallory is one of several Leopard riders currently on injured reserve. Mallory (broken pelvis), Emily Hanson (torn ACL) and Allison Hellreich (ankle injury) are expected back in the spring, which could swing the balance of power to the Leopards for the final weeks of the season (special thanks to Erin Githens for alerting us to a mistake regarding Hanson's first name which we confused with another IHSA rider - Editor).

--Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Partly sunny skies, with temperatures in the upper '50's. Start time: 8:48AM. Finish: 3:12PM - includes 46 minute lunch break/Coaches & Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? No. Alumni classes held in this Region? Yes. Judge: Pat Byrne. Stewards: Speziale/East Stroudsburg University, Wolfinger/Bloomsburg University and Lane-Waitkus/University of Scranton.

Team Totals: Princeton University (High Point Team) 29; Lafayette College (Reserve) 28; Lehigh University 25; Kutztown University 21; East Stroudsburg University 21; Moravian College 17; Rutgers University 13; Bloomsburg University 12; Cedar Crest College 9 and University of Scranton 9.

High Point Rider - Lauren Nelson, East Stroudsburg University
Reserve High Point Rider - Jessica Herlihy, Lehigh University