Melanie Galles (left) and Kelly McCarthy of Grand Valley State placed first and second, respectively in the first section of open horsemanship at the January 13th Michigan State AM western show. Galles went on to have the proverbial "Perfect Day," winning four out of four open classes and capturing high point rider honors not once but twice.

GRAND VALLEY STATE WINS TWICE; MICHIGAN STATE HOLDS ONTO LEAD

East Lansing, MI - Zone 6, Region 4 is a brand-new region for the 2007-08 season, having been formed by spliting Zone 6, Region 3 into two pieces. While part of Ohio retained the Region 3 name, the Region 4 name now describes the entire state of Michigan. With no imput from Ohio schools as to when or where to host their shows the Michigan western teams opted to hold a double western show at Michigan State on January 13th, a date that would seem very early to readers in other parts of the country.

However nearly all of the riders on the nine Region 4 western teams reside in the state of Michigan, making travel less difficult when school is not necessarily in session. With this in mind most of the Region 4 western teams had their regularly pointed riders entered in both of today's shows, and though host Michigan State had won all four fall shows it would be someone else's turn to grab the limelight.

Following the pre-show Coaches & Captains meeting and singing of the national anthem by 'Capitol Green' (a Michigan State accapella group), the show started at 9:50AM with beginner western. The hosts took the early lead, as MSU freshman Jessica Matthews won the lone section of beginner. Grand Valley State junior Megan Mutchler was runner-up.

Seen here with western coach Jeremy LaRose, Central Michigan sophomore Rebecca Beckers won both novice western horsemanship classes on January 13th, becoming the first (and as turned out, only) CMU western rider to qualify for Regionals in 2007-08.

Though it does not happen often, a class took place without enough riders for it to be legal. Ferris State's Melissa Randall was the only rider to compete in the lone section of intermediate western horsemanship/level one held on this day. Though she received a blue ribbon Randall will not add seven points to her total needed to point out of intermediate. Still, it is good practice for those not yet riding in level two.

In total contrast intermediate western horsemanship/level two was divided into three sections. Ferris State sophomore Abby Finch needed a second or better to point out of the division, and won the first section outright to move into novice. The second section went to another Ferris State sophomore, in this case Joe Normand while the third section went to Albion College freshman Alyssa Ford. According to Albion western coach Denise Webber it was Ford's first ride in level two of the intermediate. Ironically second place in each class went to a rider from the host school. Tracey Solomon, Lauren Feinberg and Lisamarie Radomski all snared red ribbons for Michigan State.

Two sections of novice horsemanship followed, with section A won by Albion sophomore Tricia Marheine and section B going to Central Michigan sophomore Rebecca Beckers. Beckers moved to within three points of classing up with her first. Second to Marheine was Ferris State junior Christie Shively, who had pointed out of intermediate back on October 20th, while second to Beckers was University of Michigan sophomore Andrea Slick, who now needed only one single point to move up out of novice. Slick was one of only four Michigan Wolverines entered in today's shows.

From left to right are Western Michigan open riders Morgan Arrick, Emily Monacelli, Laura Somerville and western coach Tara East. Arrick's first in open Horsemanship made her the first WMU rider to qualify for Regionals in 2007-08. However the second show would see Monacelli also qualify while Sommerville would do so six days later.

At the hunter seat show held the previous day at the Michigan State University Pavilion only open rider Patrick Foth was able to win a blue ribbon for the Spartans. Though in the hunt for the Region 4 Cacchione Cup, Foth is also an advanced level rider in western. The sophomore from Sterling Heights, Michigan won the Spartans their first blue ribbon of the day in the first section of advanced western. It was also Foth's first blue ribbon at a western show this season. Grand Valley State junior Jacquelyn Girardot was second. There were two sections of advanced, with section B won by Grand Valley State senior Amanda Deaton. It was Deaton's first time showing in the advanced level, as she pointed out of novice on December 1st. Michigan State earned their fourth red ribbon of the day as Kim Krawczak was second.

Open horsemanship was divided into three sections, with no more than six in a class. Grand Valley State sophomore Melanie Galles won the first section, earning her first blue of the season in open horsemanship. Second went to GVSU teammate and junior Kelly McCarthy. The second and third sections of open horsemanship went to a pair of Western Michigan juniors. Laura Somerville won the former while Morgan Arrick won the latter. From Kalamazoo, Michigan, Arrick needed the first to remain in the lead to represent Region 4 at Nationals in the AQHA Trophy division. However with reining still to come, not to mention another show, Arricks' lead could only be called temporary. Second to the Western Michigan riders were Ashley VanderBroek of Michigan State in the second section and Grand Valley State junior Lauren Plue in the third. It should be noted that riders in the open horsemanship divisions were not asked to perform any patterns, thus being judged only on their flatwork at the walk, jog and lope.

The final two classes of the first show were for the Reiners. The first section was the largest class of the day thus far, made up of eight riders. Galles, who had won two of the previous four reining classes she had entered in 2007-08, turned out to be the only rider with two firsts in show number one. The sophomore from Benton Harbor, Michigan won the first section of open reining to secure high point rider honors. Albions' Mallory Fellows was jolly good and received the red ribbon. Winning the final class of the morning session was Albion freshman Brandy Morlock. From Eaton Rapids, Michigan, Morlock won her third reining blue ribbon in five tries, giving her hope of catching Arrick for the Region 4 AQHA Trophy lead. Western Michigan's Emily Monacelli, also in the hunt for the Trophy, was second. No rider managed a first and a second, but both Morlock and Arrick had a first and a third. With no ride-offs taking place at today's show, the coin toss was used to decide who officially was second. Arrick won the toss to receive the red ribbon. A coin toss was also needed to decide the reserve high point team honor, as both Albion and Michigan State had tied for second with 25 points each. The visitors were the winners of the toss, making Albion the official runner-up to Grand Valley State. GVSU had finished second at the first two shows and today became the first team to defeat Michigan State in 2007-08. Grand Valley's 27 would turn out to be the lowest score of the season to actually win a Region 4 show.

Albion College Western Head Coach Denise Webber (second on right) not only served as a steward at both of today's shows, Webber even saw her team capture the reserve high point ribbon. Albion finished in a tie for second with Michigan State at the first show, with 25 points each. It was the fourth time in five shows that Albion was either in a tie for second or reserve high point team outright.

Following a near-75 minute lunch break which included another Coaches' meeting the second show started at 2:17PM. The order of classes was the exact opposite to the first show, with the open reining going first and the beginners at the end. Galles stayed unbeaten for the day, winning the first reining section while Stephanie Murray of Michigan State was runner-up. Ashley Peterson of Ferris State won the second section of reining, with Monacelli second. Open western horsemanship was again made up of three sections, with Plue, Peterson and the suddenly-unbeatable Galles blue ribbon winners in that order. While Arrick (second to Plue) and VanderBroek (second to Galles) had already placed inside the the top two on January 13th, Michigan State senior Chelsey Shivley earned her best ribbon of the day in placing second to Peterson. The Battle Creek resident gave the Spartans yet another red ribbon for the weekend.

The show two advanced was similar to show one, in that three of the riders who made the top two had done so in the first show. Deaton and Foth were both in section A, with Deaton the winner and Foth the runner-up. Girardot improved on her first show placing with a first while Jamie Kalleward delivered yet another red ribbon to the Spartans. Already qualified for Regionals in novice western, the senior from Belding, Michigan was the tenth Michigan State rider through two western shows to win a red ribbon.

It is spelled Kolodziej but pronounced "Cole-odd-jay." Michigan State sophomore Charlene Kolodziej started a trend for the host Spartans. Through the first show and the first nine classes of the second show Michigan State had only two blue ribbons. Then Kolodziej won the final section of novice horsemanship, starting a run which would see four Spartans prevail over the final five classes. Michigan State was reserve for the second show with 29 points.

One of the decisions made during the Coaches & Captains meeting was to reconfigure the novice horsemanship from two sections into three. This change meant that only the first section had as many as six riders while the other two were made up of only five. Beckers won the first section to go undefeated for the day while Lee Anne Peasley was second. If Peasley was second you know what that means - Yes she goes to Michigan State! The MSU run of red ribbons came to an end in the second novice section, when Ferris State sophomore Nina Peterson won while Michelle Diemer of Grand Valley State was second. For only the third time all day Michigan State received a blue ribbon, as the third section was won by Spartan sophomore Charlene Kolodziej. Slick from the Wolverines was again the red ribbon winner. Perhaps one of the reasons the novice division was made into three sections very last minute was to provide more riders the opportunity to qualify for Regionals. Beckers, Peterson and Slick all classed up with their placings from the second show, while Marheine's third in the second section helped her to point out six days later.

The University of Michigan picked up another blue in the first section of intermediate western, as Claudia Cieslack was first. Normand was second, earning 12 points for the day and advancing to Regionals in the division. Radomski gave the hosts another win by virtue of a first in the second section, with Albion's Ford swapping places from the first show. The third section made it two in a row for the Spartans, as freshman Dustin Grezeszak was the blue ribbon winner. Second in the section was Jessica Bollinger of Ferris State, who took the place of teammate Finch who had pointed up earlier and thus showed novice in the afternoon.

Though in the book there was a section of intermediate Horsemanship level one planned for the second show, the division (which again would not have had the three entries to make it legal) was not held. The final class of the day was the lone section of beginner western. Though ten names were listed in the program (which would have made it the largest class of the day) only five riders actually competed, with Aleta Daniels of Michigan State the final blue ribbon winner of the day. Second went to Caitlyn Storch of Western Michigan, who tied teammates Arrick and Monacelli for the best WMU ribbon of the afternoon show.

Only four University of Michigan riders were entered in today's shows but the Wolverines broke double digits in the second show nonetheless. Aided by a first for Claudia Cieslack in intermediate horsemanship (pictured), the Wolverines scored 13 points in the afternoon competition.

Though not mentioned up to this point because none of their riders placed inside the top two, Saganaw Valley State participated in both shows. SVSU was led by open rider Crystal Henson and beginner western rider Heather Gray, both of whom earned a third in the second show (Hensons' came in the horsemanship division). Saganaw Valley earned 14 points at the second show, which was only their fourth show of the season.

As was the case for the first show, Grand Valley State led the way, scoring 34 to win by five over the hosts who came on late in the afternoon. Ferris State, helped for the most part by the Peterson's, were third with 21. The open rider race changed radically, as Galles added 28 points to her total to tie Arrick overall at 59 each. In one day Galles jumped over Monacelli, Somerville, Shivley, Murray and Ashley Peterson to not only make the Region 4 top five but to lead it. Ashley Peterson received two firsts but even the coin toss for High Point Rider went Galles' way in show two.

Besides a pile of blue ribbons and a tie for first in the Region 4 western open rider race, Galles also won four flashing plastic drinking glasses! Each blue ribbon winner at today's show was given a plastic cup with a button on the bottom which could make the glass 'flash' in several different colors. This writer has not seen anything quite like them on the East Coast and would encourage anyone to visit www.slickshirts.com (based in East Lansing, Michigan) to peak at not only the assortment of flashing drinking glasses but other novelties which Slick Shirts provides. The glasses at today's show were embossed with "Zone 6, Region 4" and "1st Place" in green lettering similar to the Michigan State colors.

And then there were none: Zone 6, Region 4 finished their western season six days later, when Grand Valley State hosted the final regular season show on January 19th. Both Arrick and Galles won their open western classes but the reining division broke the tie. Galles made the rally complete with a second while Arrick was third. By a slim 71-70 margin Galles became the first IHSA rider nationwide to qualify for Nationals. Galles is the first of 22 riders to qualify for the individual AQHA Trophy division at 2008 Nationals in Burbank, California May 8-11. Though Michigan State was beaten for a third straight time by Grand Valley State the Spartans still finished with a 211-193 edge, claiming their first Region Title since the 1990's. The Spartans will send a full western team to Semifinals in Laurinburg, North Carolina March 29th and 30th, where they will face off against the likes of the United States Military Academy, Stanford University, Delaware Valley College and even Midway College from the southern part of Zone 6. The top three teams in the eight-way competition will advance to Nationals in Burbank. Galles is already assured a trip to the West Coast. Exactly how many others from Region 4 join her will be determined March 30th.

--Steve Maxwell

Show One Show Incidentals: Cloudy skies, with temperatures in the mid 30's. Entire show held indoors in a heated facility. Start time: 9:50AM. Finish: 1:04PM. Point cards posted in this region? No, however a scoreboard with division-by-division points was posted and updated after each division was completed. Alumni Classes held in this region? No. Judge: Doug Cline. Stewards: Webber/Albion College and East/Western Michigan University.

Show One Team Totals: Grand Valley State University (High Point Team) 27; Albion College (TIE-Reserve) 25; Michigan State University (TIE-Reserve) 25; Western Michigan University 17; Ferris State University 16; University of Michigan 9; Saginaw Valley State University 8 and Central Michigan University 7.

High Point Rider - Melanie Galles, Grand Valley State University
Reserve High Point Rider - Morgan Arrick, Western Michigan University

Show Two Show Incidentals: Snow flurries, with temperatures in the mid 30's. Entire show held indoors in a heated facility. Start time: 2:17PM. Finish: 4:43PM. Point cards posted in this region? No, however a scoreboard with division-by-division points was posted and updated after each division was completed. Alumni Classes held in this region? No. Judge: Joe Goodnow. Stewards: McConnon/Grand Valley State University and Webber/Albion College.

Show Two Team Totals: Grand Valley State University (High Point Team) 34; Michigan State University (Reserve) 29; Ferris State University 21; Western Michigan University 16; Saginaw Valley State University 14; Albion College 13; University of Michigan 13 and Central Michigan University 0.

High Point Rider - Melanie Galles, Grand Valley State University
Reserve High Point Rider - Ashley Peterson, Ferris State University