Dartmouth equestrian's two eight-person teams took home fifth and sixth in the postseason New England Classic held Saturday at Dartmouth's Morton Farm. Mount Holyoke College placed first out of the 17 participating teams.
Co-captain Lindsay Clayton '04 said, "The New England Classic is very competitive. Not only does the format make it a more challenging show, but the number of teams makes it much more difficult to accumulate many points."
Despite the competitive nature of the show, several Dartmouth riders rode well and placed high out of classes with seventeen riders. Two first place finishes were Mitzi Huang '05 as the NEC walk/trot champion and Elyssa Gelmann '06 as the NEC intermediate flat champion.
"I'm so proud of our riders who placed today because the classes are against 17 other riders, the best in all of New England," said Coach Sally Batton. "Mitzi and Elyssa put in solid performances and finished on top of the other riders in their divisions."
Huang and Gelmann, as well as Dartmouth's other top finishers, had to ride well in one of three heats of flat classes to make it to the Championship class in each division. By random horse draw, Huang drew the same horse, Gaylord, for both of her rides.
Huang said, "I was extremely nervous during my heat for two reasons: I was off last term so this was my first show since November, and I had never ridden Gaylord before. My second ride in the Championship class felt better; I was lucky to have drawn such an awesome horse twice."
Three other Dartmouth riders placed in the top third of their classes. Co-captain Sara Glazer '04 placed third in open flat, Taylor Smith '06 placed fourth in intermediate flat and Tina Gutierrez '05 placed sixth in walk/trot/canter.
Clayton said, "It is always difficult to run a show and compete at the same time, so it is especially impressive that our riders did so well considering they were also responsible for making the show run smoothly."
The New England Classic was the last home show of the season and the last home show for the team's five seniors, who include the co-captains Clayton and Glazer, as well as Katie Colfer, Ashley McCaughan and Crosby Haynes.
"It's very hard to imagine this team without our amazing group of seniors," said Batton. "Each one has added her own special touch to this team, both in and outside of the ring."
The team heads to Centenary College in New Jersey next week for the final competition of the year, the much anticipated All-Ivies Championship, hosted by Princeton and Columbia. Dartmouth doesn't normally compete against other Ivy League schools during the regular season, making this show unique and fun.
Batton said, "I taught in the equine program at Centenary for six years prior to coming to Dartmouth so it will be fun to take the team to my old stomping grounds. I think Dartmouth will put in a strong showing and show the rest of the schools what it's all about."
