campusequestrian.com
 
 

Photo
Sweet Briar College seniors Olivia Smith (on left) and Sarah Hibler showed in the open divisions on November 16th. Recent point-up Hibler was second over fences and third on the flat while Smith won twice and continues to lead the Region 2 open rider standings.

HOST SWEET BRIAR TAKES TOP PRIZE, SITS IN FIRST THROUGH MID-SEASON BREAK

Sweet Briar, VA - On November 16 Sweet Briar College entered the day three points behind Bridgewater College but after 20 classes the host Vixens had emerged high point team by a 43-38 score over the Eagles. This meant Sweet Briar took over first place outright for the first time in 2013-14 and that they would stay ahead until the next Region 2 show in February.

With riders in 14 of the 20 classes not to mention many others helping out, the Vixens were led by open rider Olivia Smith (wins in both of her open classes) and Kathleen "Katie" Drake, who won her intermediate fences and novice flat. Both riders are seniors, both are from Connecticut (Smith from Darien, Drake from Glastonbury) and both were the only riders to win twice and qualify for the ride-off. With Smith's two wins she has earned 52 of a possible 56 open level points over the first four shows, giving her a solid shot to repeat as the Region 2 Cacchione Cup qualifier.

Other Vixens to take home blue ribbons were Laura Leitch (senior, from Atlanta, Georgia) in intermediate flat and Mary Kate Bailey (sophomore, Amherst, Virginia) in walk-trot. Sarah Hibler (in open fences), Hannah Bowers (in advanced walk-trot-canter) and Natasha Cross (in walk-trot) were second place ribbon-winners. Sweet Briar's total of 43 points is their season-high thus far in 2013-14.

Taylor Rose of Bridgewater College entered the day only three points behind Smith in the open rider standings. However after the senior from Westminster, Maryland edged out Hibler for first place in the open flat class that started the day, Rose finished out of the ribbons in her open fences. Bridgewater would win their second blue ribbon when Zachary Hinch won his novice flat class. A freshman from Fishersville, Virginia, Hinch and his mother are cousins of the late Jon Conyers, who had coached at Sweet Briar less than a decade earlier (Conyers also coached at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Wesleyan College and Savannah College of Art & Design over a 25 year span while finding time to Judge some IHSA shows and co-manage IHSA Nationals on occasion). A third Eagle also soared to a blue ribbon, as Claire Rosso (senior, from Westminster, Maryland) won her advanced walk-trot-canter class. Michaela Bragg (in both intermediate flat and fences), Shea Sutherland (in walk-trot) and Hinch (in novice fences) were red ribbon winners. Hinch just missed out joining the ride-off in the final class above the walk-trot-canter level. Bridgewater's 38 points equaled their previous high at the Hollins show less than a month earlier.

Photo
It was not a bad day to be from Westminster, Maryland. From left to right are Taylor Rose, Claire Rosso and Lane Hahn of Bridgewater College, each of which hails from the Maryland town located not far south of the Pennsylvania border. Rose won her open flat and Rosso her advanced walk-trot-canter. Hehn, the only one of the three who is not a senior, was fourth in novice fences. Apparently Hahn was influenced by the other two to attend Bridgewater after they were enjoying their first school year there.

Two schools finished in a tie for third with 33 points. One was Hollins University, which enjoyed their season high. Madi Hurley, a freshman from McKinney, Texas led the way for Hollins, winning her novice fences while placing second in novice flat (ironically Hurley's win relegated Hinch to a red ribbon just as he had done to her in novice flat earlier). Lizzie Ranzo (junior, from Sutton, Massachusetts) won her open fences while Megan Gilbert (freshman, Richmond, Virginia) was first in her advanced walk-trot-canter. Not originally listed in the program, freshman Kate Ramundo was a late add in novice flat and proceeded to place second in her IHSA debut. Senior Catherine Hensly later placed second in novice fences.

Also scoring 33 was Randolph College. The Wildcats won two blue ribbons, with Morgan Hoke (freshman, Kingsville, Maryland) first in novice flat and Blake Vasser (junior, Atlanta, Georgia) on top in the walk-trot class that ended the day at ten minutes past three. Freshman Katya Schwab was a red ribbon winner in both of her open classes while Meaghan Hynes was second in the open fences class which was in between Schwab's two rides. Randolph was in first place for eight days after winning the Hollins show and now sit only seven points out of first place.

Lynchburg College is proving to be the most consistant team in the region if not the whole country. The Hornets scored 25 points at the season opener and have followed it up with three consecutive scores of 24 points! Jessie Burgett (freshman, Medway, Massachusetts) won her intermediate fences while Kristen O'Keefe (senior, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire) won her walk-trot. Though they had a full card these turned out to be Lynchburg's only top two ribbons of the event.

Photo
From left to right are Hollins coach Liz Courter, coach Sandy Gerald, Lizzie Ranzo and coach Nancy Peterson. Ranzo was one of three Hollins riders to win a class on November 16th. Though Hollins is known for not having a mascot or a nickname it was learned today that some of their teams are referred to as "The Green."


Defending region champion University of Virginia was one of two schools to score 20 points. Katharine "Kate" Martin (sophomore, Roanoke, Virginia) won her novice fences while Mohammad Attar (sophomore, from Saudi Arabia) won the only section of beginner walk-trot-canter held today. Attar was already qualified for Regionals and both Martin and Christy Haines (fourth in advanced walk-trot-canter) joined him today. With Ali Seferovich and Skye Stansbury already qualified the Cavaliers boast the most riders already going to Region 2 Regionals with five. Stansbury was second to Drake in intermediate fences while Alex Lopez was second to Vasser in walk-trot to give UVA two red ribbons for the day.

James Madison University also scored 20 points. The Dukes were led by Jess Matthews, a sophomore from Powatan, Virginia who won JMU's only blue ribbon of the day in intermediate flat. Courtney Stout (in advanced walk-trot-canter), Ali Anderson (in novice flat) and Amanda Beachy (in novice fences) were red ribbon winners for the Dukes. Beachy also became the first James Madison rider of 2013-14 to qualify for Regionals with her second place showing.

There was at tie at 33, a tie at 20 and yet another tie at 19 points. Radford University would not be too upset about their 19 point effort, as the Highlanders were without an open rider and nearly tied their previous high of 20 points at Hollins. Sophomore Jill Lampert was second to Leitch in intermediate flat while Kimberlyn Thompson was second to Attar in beginner walk-trot-canter for Radford's two best ribbons of the day.

Washington & Lee University also scored 19 points. However after scoring 30 at Hollins and 36 only two weeks earlier at Bridgewater the Generals would not want to put today's performance into a time capsule. Washington & Lee did not place a rider higher than third, with Laura Lemon (in open flat), Claire Stevenson (also in open flat), Maia Robbins (in intermediate fences) and Jenny Lee (in advanced walk-trot-canter) each receiving a yellow ribbon (this tied W&L with Radford for the most yellow ribbons on the 16th). As evidenced by the fact that Washington & Lee are in fourth place overall through four shows the Highlanders are a much better team than today's score bears out.

Photo
They did not field an IHSA team the past three seasons, but in 2013-14 Liberty University is once again competing within the organization. From left to right are hunter coach Lori Matthews, Emma Grace Moore, head coach Caroline Trexler and Noelle Lamb. A junior, Moore was a blue ribbon winner in novice fences.

Roanoke College had riders entered in only three divisions but still scored 11 points. Like Washington & Lee the Maroons did not place a rider above third. When she showed in the second section of novice flat Gabrielle Deucher became the first Roanoke rider to enter the ring (the tenth class of the day). Deucher was third as were walk-trot riders Melissa Brady and Emily Schoup.

Rounding out the scoring was Liberty University with two points. Emma Grace Moore, a junior from Greenville, South Carolina outscored her team by winning her novice fences class. The Flames earned their two points when Justine Adams placed fifth in advanced walk-trot-canter. Liberty did not compete in IHSA shows between 2010 and 2013 but now have 16 points through four shows including a ten point effort at Hollins.

Cooperation is a wonderful thing: The program indicated that Melissa Brady would ride in section 1A while her Roanoke teammate would show in section 1B. However the opposite was true and coincidentally both placed third. So why was the switch approved? Before the show it was realized that Coral Wood, who was riding for the Maroons in beginner walk-trot-canter, needed to share certain show clothes with Brady. Because they were scheduled to compete in consecutive classes this would have posed a logistics problem (i.e. time needed to swap clothes). Therefore Schoup was moved to 1A and Brady to 1B to allow for what was no doubt still a mad dash to get changed.

Everybody wants to go away for college: Of the 20 riders who won blue ribbons only five are Virginia residents when not in school. Seven other states (Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina Texas) and one foreign country (Saudi Arabia) were represented in the winner's circle. If you add in second place winners then Ohio, Colorado, Maine and New Jersey are also represented.

The Ride-Off: There was no ride-off at today's show. The high point ribbon was decided by a coin toss. Smith called tails and it was tails. Smith was high point while Drake was reserve champion.

I want to follow you, but in the purest sense: Early in the day a rider from one of the schools asked this writer if he or Campus Equestrian was on Twitter. I explained that neither I nor the site is on Twitter though we are on Facebook. She explained how her team - and I wish I could remember which one it was - is on Twitter and there was something they were about to tweet. This led me to consider ways to promote a team's social media outlets. At one time Campus Equestrian posted reviews of 'team websites' but by 2008 so few were being updated and no new ones were created as everyone turned their attention to the creation of a Facebook page for their teams. For about four years Facebook was the rage. Then in the past 18 months Pinterest and Instagram have come along while Twitter has grown substantially as well. While at one time there was a consensus as to how to 'do it yourself,' be it a website from the late 1990's until sometime around 2007 to the Facebook phenomenon which appears to have peaked for the moment, today several variations of social media are popular. Therefore this writer came up with the idea of a page off of every Campus Equestrian IHSA region page that would list the addresses of a Team's Facebook Page, Twitter Feed, Instagram account or other form of social media (even a traditional or "athletics department" website). I am calling it the "Smorgasbord" page and a link to it can be found at the bottom of the Zone 4, Region 2 page in the lower LEFT-hand corner. If your team would like to share your Facebook URL or Twitter hashtags so that others can become friends, fans or followers, please e-mail the link to us at equestedit@aol.com and I will list it on the Zone 4, Region 2 Social Media Smorgasbord page. And links to Athletics Department Websites for your team are welcome too.

Photo
Head coach Chris Mitchell smiles as freshman Morgan Hoke (on right) holds up the first blue ribbon of the day for Randolph College. Hoke won the first section of novice flat for the Wildcats, who host the next Region 2 show on February 7th (which is a Friday).


Are we there yet?: With the November 16th Sweet Briar show completed, Region 2 is off until February 7th. Region 2 is one of fewer than five nationwide this season that will attempt to hold more than half of their hunter seat show schedule after the first of the year. While most regions attempt to get five to seven shows out of the way by the holidays Region 2 has a similar schedule they have quietly been using in the month of February the past few seasons. It usually starts on a Friday, with Randolph and Lynchburg co-hosting at the Randolph College Equestrian Center. Then after taking Saturday off Sweet Briar usually hosts on Sunday. The following weekend Bridgewater College usually hosts on a Saturday. Then the following Saturday Hollins hosts. The next day the University of Virginia, the only school not to have hosted a show up to this point, hosts a 'point show' at the Barracks in Charlottesville. When it is finished the regular season is over, with five shows having been held in 15 days! And before everyone goes home the Regional Show is held in the afternoon. By the end of the day Region 2 knows which team and which riders are going to Zones (which are at Hollins on Sunday, April 6th this season). Sometimes the weather gets in the way in February and a show or two is snowed out. The schedule looks exactly like this in 2014 (hopefully without a weather issue), with Randolph on Friday the 7th, Sweet Briar on Sunday the 9th, Bridgewater on Saturday the 16th, Hollins on Saturday the 22nd and UVA hosting a regular show (with no more than one rider per division per team) on Sunday the 23rd with Regionals immediately to follow. Last season was unlike any you will ever see in this or any other region, in that so many Region 2 schools were still alive for a Region Title going into the final weekend. Through the fall of 2013 fourth place Washington & Lee (106 points) is only 19 points ahead of eighth place UVA (87 points). However three teams are bunched together slighly higher. With Sweet Briar at 143, Bridgewater at 141 and Randolph at 136 those three currently have a buffer on the rest of the field. Considering seven teams sat in first place for at least a day last season (including a UVA team that sat in seventh or eighth place for a week) it is subject to interperation who is really in the team race and who isn't prior to the February Region 2 show marathon.

--Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Cloudy skies with early morning fog and rain most of the day. Temperatures reaching the low '50's. Entire show held indoors. Start time: 10:47AM. Finish: 3:10PM. Coaches and Captains Meeting held prior to start of show. Point Cards posted in this Region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? No. Judge: Ms. Paddy Nyegard. Stewards: Gerald/Hollins University, Reistrup/Washington & Lee University and Flower/Lynchburg College.

Team Totals: Sweet Briar College (High Point Team) 43; Bridgewater College (Reserve) 38; Randolph College 33; Hollins University 33; Lynchburg College 24; James Madison University 20; University of Virginia 20; Washington & Lee University 19; Radford University 19; Roanoke College 11 and Liberty University 2.

High Point Rider - Olivia Smith, Sweet Briar College
Reserve High Point Rider - Katie Drake, Sweet Briar College

 


HOME | CONTACT US
© 2002 - 2015 Campus Equestrian