Goucher College junior Justine Wilson poses with her parents after placing second in novice fences to earn five of the Gophers' school-record 47 points on February 11th.

GOUCHER SCORES 47, INCREASES LEAD TO 19

Owings Mills, MD - When the February 11th Goucher College show was over, one thing was for sure: Goucher has never scored a perfect 49 points.

However the Gophers came as close to 49 as an IHSA Hunter Seat Team can get, earning 47 points.

"That might be our all-time high," said Goucher Head Coach Patte Zumbrun after the points had been added. The only question is if Goucher had ever scored 47 before, which is currently a mystery.

No matter how you look at it, the 47-point performance at least ties the Gophers' all-time high. More importantly for the moment, Goucher gained 14 points on Mary Washington for the day, and now lead the Region 1 hunter seat team standings by 19 with two shows remaining.

The Gophers were led by junior Brittany Martin, who won her open fences round while placing second in open flat. At one point the Gophers won three classes in a row, as Jenna Allen and Nina Sysko won back-to-back walk-trot sections while Sarah Ashby won the advanced walk-trot-canter class that followed. Jonathan Cohen won his section of open flat while Boo Geise won intermediate flat and Sarah Pandolfini won novice flat to bring the Gopher blue ribbon total to seven.

George Mason was one of two teams to finish third for the day. Junior Anna Schulman (right, with teammate Sarah Franke) earned the lone blue ribbon of the day for the Patriots with a first in novice fences. George Masons' 25 points brought their total to 97, as many as they scored all of last season.

The University of Mary Washington earned Reserve High Point Team honors with 33 points. Eagle sophomore Jessica Van Brocklin won both of her open classes to account for 14 points, while Samantha Rizzi won her section of intermediate flat and Stephanie Kulakowski took first in the third of three advanced walk-trot-canter sections. Van Brocklins' two firsts brought her total of combined open flat and fences points to 59 and moved her 12 ahead of Martin and 15 ahead of teammate Lauren Campbell in the Region 1 Cacchione/Open Rider Standings. If Van Brocklin can hold this lead through the Christopher Newport and Mary Washington shows she will become the first Eagle rider to compete at IHSA Nationals for the Cacchione Cup since Matt Lowe was the Region 1 high point open rider at Nationals during the 2001-02 season.

A pair of teams earned third place, this despite neither having a walk-trot rider entered at todays' show. George Mason was led by junior Anna Schulman, who won the first of two novice fences sections. St. Mary's could claim a pair of blue ribbon winners in Ashley Bailor (who won the second advanced walk-trot-canter class to break the Goucher win streak) and Rachel Welniak (who won the largest class of the day, beating out nine others for the only intermediate fences blue ribbon awarded at today's show). Though both teams scored 25 the result was probably more significant to the Patriots. With the program only in its' third season, George Mason raised their overall team total to 97 points, as many as they scored all of last season, and 16 more than they posted all of 2004-05. In any event it looks safe that George Mason will improve on their tenth place overall finish in 2005-06.

With Valentine's Day only three days away, riders who won classes received some candy hearts to go with their blue ribbon. Rachel Welniak of St. Mary's College displays both prizes awarded after her intermediate fences performance.

The University of Maryland held onto third place overall, nearly as good as St. Mary's and George Mason with 24 points. Most of the Equiterps' heroics came late in the day, as Veronica Bruce and Amber Kuh were both blue ribbon winners in novice flat. In addition Lacey Fishman earned a second in walk-trot. The Equiterps are now at 134 points overall, only 11 behind their 2005-06 total. Should Maryland hold onto third place it will be the first time since 2001-02 the Equiterps have finished a season third or higher overall in the hunter seat team standings.

The University of Richmond continued to hold fifth place overall, with a full card and six riders competing. The Spiders' highest ribbon of the day came in the first class, as Brittany Yates was second to Van Brocklin in open fences. Three other Richmond riders earned thirds as the Spiders scored 22 points.

Mount St. Mary's was next with 19, moving them one place ahead of William & Mary in the standings. The Mount were led by freshman Megan Applebaum, who won her novice fences while placing second to Kuh in novice flat. Applebaums' second occured in the final official undergradute class of the day, forcing a ride-off for reserve with Martin.

William & Mary scored 18 points, with sophomore Caroline Tarmawski earning the highest blue ribbon of the day for the Tribe with a second in advanced walk-trot-canter (Today's show did not feature a beginner walk-trot-canter division for the record).

Christopher Newport scored 15 without any open riders, with late addition Jess Strauss earning the Captains' highest ribbon with a second in novice flat. American University had an open rider but no intermediate or walk-trot. Open rider Emi Piez, who had been abroad in Buenos Aires last semester, earned nine of Americans' 13 points with a red in open flat and a yellow in open fences. Piez not only rode during her time in South America, she even competed in a few shows. Closing out the scoring was Hood College. Sophomore Nadine Miglio scored five of Hood's 11 points with a second in advanced walk-trot-canter.

From Alexandria, Virginia, University of Mary Washington sophomore Jessica Van Brocklin won both of her open classes at today's show to earn high point rider honors. Ironically Van Brocklin was high point rider at the last Goucher-hosted show as well.

Saltz's alumni debut fit for an open riders' Regional Test: There was some concern before today's show that there would not be the minimum three riders needed to fill an alumni class and make it official. When 2006 Goucher graduate Rachel Saltz informed her former teammates that she would be up visiting from Georgia over the weekend she was instructed to bring her riding clothes and be ready to compete. Though four others took part in both alumni divisions Saltz made her alumni debut nonetheless. Saltz's over fences round resulted in a third, but it was the alumni flat division that she won't soon forget.

The alumni divisions are supposed to be run in similar fashion to the novice divisions, as the fences course is supposed to be at least no more difficult if not identical. However all five alumni riders must have been reasonably surprised when judge Laura Norment asked them to drop their irons and cross them if they desire. Though Saltz had never been asked to ride without stirrups in an official IHSA class as an undergraduate, judge Norment proceed to ask for - and receive - the canter from all five riders! Though some regions regularly test open riders without irons, very rarely will this be asked of intermediate riders on down. Though Saltz finished fifth not much separated her ride from at least two of the others. And none of the rides were half bad either!

Handling both alumni divisions the best at today's show was 2003 Virginia Intermont College graduate Angee Quattro, who won both alumni classes. Quattros' blue on the flat allowed her to overtake 2005 William & Mary graduate Jill Wilson by a 25-24 margin. Wilson was second to Quattro over fences and on the flat, but still became the first alumni rider in the region this season to secure a spot at Regionals, as her jumping total moved up to 31 points. 2005 St. Mary's graduate Diane Zrimsek was fourth in both alumni divisions while Katie Lawery Cawood swapped places with Saltz, the 2005 University of Maryland graduate placing third on the flat and fifth over fences.

The Ride-off: Applebaum and Martin rode off for the reserve ribbon. In the beginning it appeared that Martin had the edge, but perhaps a problem picking up the canter after changing directions and a late transition back to the walk gave the edge to Applebaum. The freshman from Parkton, Maryland who actually rode for Mount St. Mary's Head Coach Janis Groomes before she went off to college earned the Reserve ribbon to Van Brockin and a win in her first IHSA ride-off appearance.

Seen here with Head Coach Janis Groomes, Mount St. Mary's freshman Megan Applebaum (right) won a two-way ride-off for Reserve High Point Rider. Despite facing a veteran open rider, the novice from Parkton, Maryland won in her first-ever IHSA ride-off.

Something to talk about at the Silent Auction: All IHSA regions are required to donate an item or items valued at roughly $500.00 to the Silent Auction held each year at IHSA Nationals. The auction was a topic of discussion before the show and whether or not equestrian-related items were manditory for the auction was brought up. Though the vast majority of items in the auction are traditionally for the horsey set, this writer would like it known that there have been some unique exceptions. One that sticks out in my mind came in May of 1998, when two tickets for an Oakland Athletics baseball game were up for auction (the 1998 National show was held in Port Jervis, New York, not exactly close to the Bay area). With this years' Nationals taking place in Western Massachusetts, the idea of Baseball tickets for games played in historic Fenway Park or either of the New York stadiums (both of which will be replaced in 2009) might go over well. With the large number of spectators from the Boston and New York Metro areas attending Nationals this season, perhaps tickets to see the Red Sox or Yankees at Camden Yards would generate some interest as well.

IEA Champs have a nice place to ride: Another topic of discussion before todays' show was the facility. Goucher hosted not on their campus but rather at the Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, less than 20 miles west. Garrison Forest has an indoor while Goucher has a covered ring, and with the likelyhood of wintery weather Goucher wisely scheduled their show off campus for the first time this writer can recall. Garrison Forest School is one of the elite programs within the IEA (Interscholastic Equestrian Association), having won the National Championship last season while hosting the IEA National show within the past three seasons. The close proximity of parking to the indoor (though other non-equestrian sports events were held on campus concurrently, usurping some of the parking spaces), the heated food area and offices and the indoor itself are impressive. Though the Goucher facility is ideal most of the year (Garrison Forest hosted an IEA show at Goucher during the fall), the GFS facility is good on a day like today, when wind chills make 36 degrees feel like single digits.

---Steve Maxwell

Show incidentals: Mostly sunny but windy, with high temperatures in the upper '30's. Entire show held indoors. Start time: 11:10AM. Finish: 3:47PM - includes 11 minute schooling break. Coaches and Captains Meeting held prior to start of show. Point Cards posted in this Region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Mrs. Laura Norment, New Bern, NC. Stewards: Greenwood/College of William & Mary, Groomes/Mount St. Mary's University and Hooper/Christopher Newport University.

Team Totals: Goucher College (High Point Team) 47; University of Mary Washington (Reserve) 33; St. Mary's College (MD) 25; George Mason University 25; University of Maryland 24; University of Richmond 22; Mount St. Mary's University 19; College of William & Mary 18; Christopher Newport University 15; American University 13 and Hood College 11.

High Point Rider - Jessica Van Brocklin, University of Mary Washington
Reserve High Point Rider - Megan Applebaum, Mount St. Mary's University